This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, GSK sells two vaccines to Pfizer, pancreatic cancer drug pipeline, Benitec and ReNeuron extend collaboration, Kite and Bluebird partner to fight cancer, StemCells’ Phase II trial gets approved by Health Canada, Medicine Co. gets FDA approval after a decade, and Bayer to invest 4 billion euros in R&D.

Cell Culture Events

Webinars:

Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Times:

7:00 a.m. PDT Pacific Daylight Time
10:00 a.m. EDT Eastern DaylightTime
3:00 p.m. BST British Summer Time
4:00 p.m. CEST Central European Summer Time

Resolute® AutoPak: Changing Chromatography Column Packing from an Art into a Science

Typically column packing is the responsibility of a few specialist operators and has been regarded almost as an art by some observers. When the artistry fails, the results can be unplanned plant downtime, loss of product or sorbent as well as inefficient use of resources. Couple this with difficulties in transferring methodologies to other geographies and coping with loss of skill through high staff turnover then it’s not difficult to see why column operations are regarded with apprehension. To mitigate these risks the biopharmaceutical industry is moving toward an increasingly science based approach. The role of automation in this move is pivotal. This webinar discusses the move to automation and how it delivers solutions to the challenges associated with chromatography column operations.

Participants will learn:

• The relevance of automation to improving the efficiency of column operations.
• How automation has been implemented in the AutoPak system.
• The findings of an early adopter of the AutoPak system.

Workshops:

High Performance Tour 2015

Discover how to improve efficiency and productivity for your bioprocessing workflows during our exclusive High Performance Tour.

Learn how the choice of chromatography media (resins), hardware, and services can dramatically affect your process performance.

Register now to reserve your seat at this special event where you can gain insights in improved process efficiency and productivity.

Coming to these Cities:

• San Diego, CA – September 15, 2015
• San Francisco, CA – September 17, 2015

To Register – https://promo.gelifesciences.com/na/K15104/landing.html

Conferences:

June

• Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research – June 24-27, 2015, -Stockholm, Sweden http://www.isscr.org/home/annual-meeting/isscr2015

August

• The Bioprocessing Summit – August 3-7, 2015 – Westin Copley Place – Boston, MA http://www.bioprocessingsummit.com/

September

• Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Conference – September 2-3, 2015 – Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. – http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress/#stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress Join 300+ attendees from stem cell, regenerative medicine, cell & Gene Therapy biotechs to discuss the hottest industry topics and make new connections. At this year’s event the regenerative medicine industry is taking it to the next level and discussing how genomics is changing the field – and highlighting the commercialization and manufacturing stories that have helped spur the recent success.Discover the future of the regenerative medicine industry with exclusive content.Co-located with:
• Cord Blood World – September 2-3, 2015 – Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/stem-cells-and-regenerative-medicine-congress/C52334.stm

• Cell Therapy Bioprocessing – September 30 – October 2, 2015 – The Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellTherapy/overview.xml

October

• Bioproduction – October 14-15, 2015 – Dublin, Ireland – http://www.informa-ls.com/event/bio-production14Benchmark technological developments and explore best practices in biomanufacturingThe biopharmaceutical industry is making a capital investment of approximately $8 billion in new facilities in Ireland, most of which has come in the last 10 years, representing close to the biggest wave of investment in new biotech facilities anywhere in the world.Join us at BioProduction 2015 in Dublin this October to see why so much is being invested in this area and to network with leading players within this growing industry!BioProduction 2015: Europe’s leading and largest event for a comprehensive update on all aspects of large scale biological manufacturing. Providing insights on the latest technologies, upstream/downstream processing, process analytics, the implementation of continuous manufacturing, facility design, flexibility facilities and single use systems to reduce inefficiencies during the biomanufacturing process.4 Conferences – 1 Exhibition – 1 Congress
  • Conference 1: Continuous Manufacturing
  • Conference 2: Upstream Processing – Production, Development & Analytics
  • Conference 3: Manufacturing Strategy & Technology
  • Conference 4: Downstream Processing

  For more information on the 2015 event please visit the event website at http://www.informa-ls.com/CQ3531BioproductionCellEL

• Bioprocessing International – October 26-29, 2015 Hynes Convention Center Boston, MAhttp://www.ibclifesciences.com/BPI/overview.xml

Headlines

“GSK sells two vaccines to Pfizer to ease competition concerns,” Reuters

“GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to sell two meningitis vaccines to Pfizer to satisfy antitrust concerns after its recent acquisition of vaccines business of Novartis.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – Defined, Animal-free Virus Production Media”

“Pancreatic cancer drug pipeline rich but slow,” BioSpectrum

“According to GBI Research, the pancreatic cancer treatment pipeline contains 447 therapeutics, however, only 4 percent of the products are in Phase III of development.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Materials and Assay Systems Used for 3D Cell Culture”

“Benitec, ReNeuron extend research collaboration to develop cellular therapies,” Pharmaceutical Business Review“

Australian biotechnology firm Benitec Biopharma has introduced a new exploratory cellular therapy program including exosome-based delivery using its ddRNAi technology.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “2014 FDA New Drug Approvals – 11 Biologics Receive Approval”

“Kite, Bluebird partner for new cancer therapies,” Reuters

“Cancer drug developers Kite Pharma Inc and Bluebird Bio Inc said they would partner to develop and market a new class of T-cell therapies for HPV-associated cancers.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Troubleshooting Live Cell Fluorescence Imaging”

“Health Canada grants approval for StemCells’ Phase II trial for cervical spinal cord injury,” Pharmaceutical Business Review

“Health Canada has granted approval for StemCells to expand its Phase II clinical trial (Pathway Study) to evaluate the efficacy of company’s HuCNS-SC platform technology for chronic cervical spinal cord injury.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cell Culture Media Optimization: Making the perfect magical potion”

“FDA approves Medicines Co’s blood clot drug after a decade,” Reuters

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Medicines Co’s blood clot preventer Cangrelor, which has faced multiple setbacks since it first entered late-stage studies close to a decade back.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Continuous Bioprocessing – The Biomanufacturing Model of the Future?”

“Bayer to invest 4 billion euros in R&D this year: Bild,” Reuters

“German drugs and chemicals group Bayer plans to invest 4 billion euros ($4.54 billion) in research and development this year, its chief executive told Germany’s Bild newspaper.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “A High Throughput, Scalable Solution to Upstream Process Development”