Bachem has signed a new framework agreement to provide large volumes of peptides to an unnamed customer following a joint development project. This covers “a committed volume at an equivalent value of over CHF 500 million for the five-year period of 2027-2031, with significant upside potential,” the company said.

This follows recent deals a previous large-volume contract for another unnamed customer worth CHF 175 million in 2023-4. The deal was announced in September 2022 and subsequently upgraded with a further work order for a minimum total of CHF 1 billion from 2025 to 2029.

During the recent BioProcess International US West conference in San Diego, Spectrum Chemical announced an expansion of its BioCertified line of products that undergo complete lot analysis including expanded testing for endotoxin, bioburden and elemental impurities.

This brings the total in the BioCertified range to about 100. The new products include:

* An expanded line of biological buffers, which are used in modelling biological systems, cell culture, bioprocessing, purification and formulation

* Amino acids for protein purification and formulations

Nippon Shokubai has concluded a licence agreement with its Japanese compatriot and affiliate company, Rena Therapeutics, to make and sell heteroduplex oligonucleotide (HDO) as a research reagent to industry and academia in all countries where it is covered by patents. Rena has existing licences with Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical.

Piramal Pharma Solutions has begun production of initial batches of APIs in new reactor suites at its facility in Riverview, Michigan. This, the company said, represent the first in a three-step process for the development and manufacturing of Phase II clinical trial materials. As part of the programme, technicians are scaling up material from 10-15 kg to 75-80 kg.

Lonza is to expand its Early Development Services (EDS) offering into North America with a new, laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Covering nearly 1,600 m², this will begin operations in May. No details were given on the expenditure involved.

Like the company’s other EDS lab in Cambridge, UK, the new lab will offer early in silico non-GMP protein expression and in vitro immunosafety assessment services. These will mainly be delivered to the preclinical stage small- to mid-sized biotechs around the Boston area.

Croda International has bought Solus Biotech from Korea’s Solus Advanced Materials for about $277 million, subject to regulatory approval. Solus Biotech makes biotechnology-derived beauty actives, notably naturally derived powder ceramides and GMP phospholipids for both pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Both are high-growth markets, with the number of new personal care products containing ceramides doubling over the last five years.

French CDMO Seqens has opened its $5 million ‘Seqens Boston R&D Center’ in Devens, Massachusetts, in place of an older one. Covering 14,00 m², this will be the North American flagship for its ten-strong global network of R&D centres, helping to take projects through all the stages of development to commercialisation.