Merck KGaA is to spend €59 million to expand HPAPI and ADC manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its facility near Madison, Wisconsin. Completion is expected by mid-2022 and should add approximately 50 full-time jobs from 2021.

The investment will allow large-scale manufacturing of highly potent oncology compounds, the company said. The 6,500 m² building will be one of the largest dedicated HPAPI facilities specifically designed to handle single-digit nanogram OEL materials.

President Emmanuel Macron (above) and Bruno Lemaire, Minister of the Economy, Finance & Recovery, were both present on 28 August, when pharmaceutical CDMO Seqens unveiled a new HPAPI unit at its site in Villeneuve-La-Garenne, France. The total investment in the UPP30 project, as it is called, was about €30 million.

Swiss-based CDMO Carbogen Amcis has announced two major expansion projects over the next four years at a cost of over €90 million. This follows six years of constant growth for the company, a subsidiary of the Dishman Group, and aims to address current market demand.

The ongoing race to develop the first effective vaccines for the treatment of COVID-19 continues to generate manufacturing and development agreements between pharmaceutical giants, biotechs and CDMOs.

Most recently, Sterling Pharma Solutions agreed to carry out final purification of drug product for Moleculin Biotech’s WP1122 drug candidate from its site in Cary, North Carolina. Moleculin is about to submit an IND for this to the FDA and wanted a reliable source of supply in the US.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has signed a letter of interest to provide a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak to support the launch of Kodak Pharmaceuticals at a ceremony at the company’s main site in Rochester, New York state. It was addressed remotely by President Trump and State Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Lonza has reported 7.7% growth in sales in constant currency terms during 1H 2020 to CHF 3,074 million, with a core EBITDA margin of 29.1%. This, as in 2019, was largely driven by the Lonza Pharma Biotech & Nutrition (LBPN) segment, which had 10.8%3 sales growth and a margin of 34.1%.

CordenPharma has announced the addition of a 3,000-litre solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) vessel at its GMP API facility in Boulder, Colorado. This site, which was formerly owned by Roche, already has a 10,000-litre SPPS vessel and a 100 cm high-pressure reverse phase purification column, and is claimed to have the largest capacity of any peptide API facility.