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.

CordenPharma has signed a multi-year agreement for the contract manufacture of a large-volume launch peptide at its former Roche facility in Boulder, Colorado. This will begin in 2023 and will potentially be worth about $1 billion, depending on actual production levels required. The customer has not been named and no further details are being disclosed.

In response to an increasing number of projects, notably in oncology, Indian CRDMO Sai Life Sciences, has opened a 1,485 m² high potency API (HPAPI) facility at its cGMP API campus in Bidar. This follows on from the opening of an HPAPI development facility at the Hyderabad R&D campus.

The company said that this expands its expertise “across HPAPI development and manufacturing, providing its customers with a streamlined pathway for NCE development”. It will now be able to handle all aspects of the product life cycle.

UK-based CDMO Sterling Pharma Solutions has completed the acquisition of Novartis’ API facility in Ringaskiddy, near Cork, Ireland. The deal includes an on-going supply agreement to make APIs for cardiovascular, immunology and oncology medicines for Novartis. No financial details were disclosed.

Granules India and Greenko ZeroC have formed a strategic partnership to promote ‘integrated green pharmaceutical zones’. The first part will be a 40-hectare greenfield facility at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, for large-scale manufacturing of key starting materials, intermediates, APIs and fermentation-based products, including DCDA, PAP, paracetamol and metformin.