The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring Veranova, Avid Bioservices, Schott, Piramal Pharma Solutions, Spectrum Chemical, Angus Chemical, OrganaBio, and BioCina. Highlights below.

Chemicals/Chemical APIs
* Johnson Matthey Health Rebrands as Veranova
* Spectrum Chemical, Angus Chemical in Distribution Pact
Biologics Manufacturing
* Avid Bioservices Opens First Phase of Viral Vector Mfg Facility
* OrganaBio Launches Cell-Therapy Mfg Operations
* BioCina Launches New Plasmid DNA Mfg Suite
Packaging
* Schott To Expand Vial Production Capacity in US
General
* Piramal Pharma Names Ex-Lonza Exec as New COO

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Chemicals/Chemical APIs

Johnson Matthey Health Rebrands as Veranova
Veranova, formerly known as Johnson Matthey Health, has launched as an independent company following the acquisition of the business by Altaris Capital Partners, an investment firm, from Johnson Matthey.

Veranova is a global CDMO focused on specialty active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). It has approximately 900 employees and provides API and drug-development services from process design through to commercial manufacturing.

Veranova is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania with manufacturing operations in the following locations: West Deptford, New Jersey; Devens, Massachusetts; North Andover, Massachusetts; Annan, UK; and Edinburgh, UK. It also has manufacturing and R&D centers in Cambridge, UK, and Yantai, China.

Source: Veranova

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Spectrum Chemical, Angus Chemical in Distribution Pact
Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing, a global provider of fine chemicals, laboratory equipment and supplies, and Angus Chemical, a manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals for life-sciences and industrial markets, have entered into a new distribution arrangement that expands Spectrum Chemical’s product offerings. Under the new distribution arrangement, Spectrum Chemical will market and distribute Angus-branded Tris Amino AC USP/EP and Bis-Tris Biologics grade buffers, which are used as buffering agents in cell-culture and bioprocessing applications and in purification in downstream bioprocessing.

Source: Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing

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Biologics Manufacturing

Avid Bioservices Opens First Phase of Viral Vector Mfg Facility
Avid Bioservices, a biologics CDMO, has opened the first phase of its new 53,000-square-foot viral-vector manufacturing facility in Costa Mesa, California.

The facility was designed and constructed by CRB, a provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting to the life-sciences industry. The facility at full build-out will include capacity for adherent and suspension cultures. The second phase of the expansion is expected to become operational in mid-2023.

Source: Avid Bioservices and CRB

OrganaBio Launches Cell-Therapy Mfg Operations
OrganaBio, a Miami, Florida-based CDMO of clinical-grade cells for cancer immunotherapies and regenerative medicines, has initiated GMP manufacturing operations at its new cell-therapy manufacturing facility.

The company will use its tissue supply chains to manufacture clinical-grade tissue and cellular raw materials derived from perinatal tissues and adult apheresis products for partners and will also offer contract-, self-, and hybrid-manufacturing options within the facility.

OrganaBio’s product portfolio includes umbilical cord blood (UCB) and UCB-derived CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and T cells, and stromal cells derived from placenta and umbilical cord tissues. The company also manufactures leukopaks and peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells, NK cells, and T cells from healthy, adult donors.

Source: OrganaBio

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BioCina Launches New Plasmid DNA Mfg Suite
BioCina, a Thebarton, South Australia biologics CDMO of microbial-based biologics, has expanded its CDMO service offering to include the manufacture of plasmid DNA (pDNA) in a new dedicated suite.

The suite is equipped with up to 300-L single-use fermentation capacity and suitably scaled downstream processing equipment. To complement manufacturing, a range of analytical methods have been developed to support in-process, release and stability testing of pDNA products.

Source: BioCina

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Packaging

Schott To Expand Vial Production Capacity in US
Schott plans to triple its ready-to-use vial production capacity at its site in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with an undisclosed double-digit million-euro investment. The ready-to-use vials, known under the brand name adaptiQ, are suitable for drugs such as biologics and vaccines, including mRNA-based products. The vials are pre-washed and sterilized, and packaged in a standardized tub.

Source: Schott

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General

Piramal Pharma Names Ex-Lonza Exec as New COO
Piramal Pharma Solutions, a CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and drug products, has appointed Herve Berdou, formerly the Global Head of Operations, Cell and Gene Technologies at Lonza, as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Mr. Berdou has more than two decades of experience across global supply chain, procurement, and operations, including manufacturing and site head positions at both small and large facilities. At Lonza, Mr. Berdou led a network of contract services sites globally. Prior to that, he worked in number of bio/pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis, AstraZeneca, and AstraZeneca’s MedImmune, its global biologics arm. In his new role, he will be based in the northeastern US.

Source: Piramal Pharma Solutions