CordenPharma has begun commercial peptide production with additional capacity at upgraded facilities at its site in Colorado, which is the world’s largest solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) facility. About 60 new jobs have been created with more potentially to follow. 

The company had begun capital investments in early 2023 as part of a general worldwide expansion that also includes sterile injectables and LNP formulation and fill-finish capacity at other sites. New additions at the Colorado site include: 

EuroAPI has agreed to acquire BianoGMP, a CDMO focused on small-scale, early-stage oligonucleotides, for about €10 million. The deal is expected to close in Q4. Created in 2017 by Professor Tobias Pöhlmann and Dr Rolf Günther, Biano is based in Gera, Germany, with a client base in Europe and Asia.

CRO Inotiv has completed the sale of its business in Israel, which it described as part of the site optimisation plan for its Research Models & Services segment that it launched last year. The buyer was not named. Further assets remain for sale, which have been closed as part of the process.

Minafin, owner of Minakem, Pennakem, Minagro and related brands, has revealed that it acquired Montréal-based Delmar in July. Terms were not disclosed. Delmar’s site, which will be rebranded Minafin Montréal, employs 100 and is approved by the US FDA and other regulatory agencies for API manufacture

Members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force have published an open letter to suppliers in the supply chain, asking them to commit to joining the initiative and working towards climate and sustainability targets. The CEOs of AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck& Co., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Samsung Biologics, and the chairman of Roche all signed it.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has settled a lawsuit brought by the estate of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells have been used extensively in biomedical research since her death in 1951 at the age of 31. Terms were not disclosed but attorneys on both sides said that they were satisfied.

CDMOs Axplora and Flamma have both made announcements about investments in flow chemistry, with the former completing the installation of a new cGMP pilot unit at Leverkusen, Germany, and the latter investing about $2 million in flow, starting with the installation of a new suite of equipment from Microinnova at Chignolo D’Isola, Italy.