Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited, India, has opened a new cGMP-compliant monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. This manufacturing facility supplements Glenmark's existing in-house discovery and development capabilities and will supply material for clinical development.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' Swiss research center is an integrated antibody discovery and development unit. The research center has in-house capabilities and infrastructure for conducting antibody discovery, cell-line development, testing and characterization of antibodies, process development, and analytical research. The new manufacturing facility supplements the research and development capabilities and will facilitate production of clinical-grade material. he manufacturing facility has been designed with use of single-use bioreactor systems and also houses a suite for manufacturing cell banks.

Glenmark's biologics research center in Switzerland has a pipeline of mAbs in various stages of development, including bispecific antibodies. The focus for the biologics R&D center is to develop novel biologic entities for the treatment of pain, inflammatory, oncologic and respiratory conditions. Glenmark currently has 69 employees at its biologic research center.

Glenmark's biologics research center has filed several patents on novel biologic entities. GBR 500 its most advanced candidate has been licensed to Sanofi and is currently in Phase II development. GBR 900 is in Phase I development for treating chronic pain, and GBR 830, an anti OX-40 antagonist, is scheduled to enter the clinic later this year.

Source: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals