Manufacturing
The Belgian drugmaker plans to hire about 330 people at a facility that will use advanced manufacturing technologies including AI, robotics and automation to meet rising demand for key products. This will be UCB’s first biologics manufacturing facility in the U.S.
Like its pharma peers, Novartis is pouring money into Chinese operations, including expansions and upgrades at an existing manufacturing facility.
Biotech, in particular companies that are pre-commercial with a longer-duration risk profile, could be great investments as Operation Epic Fury rolls on, according to a Truist Securities analysis.
The company is establishing commercial production capabilities to fuel plans to launch autologous CAR T cell therapies in China.
Constructing the cGMP facility will increase availability of actinium-225, a nuclear material central to radiopharmaceutical programs at AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Novartis.
Last month, for the first time in nearly four years, average job postings live on BioSpace did not decline year over year. In another encouraging sign, the number of biopharmas letting employees go fell.
Orforglipron, Eli Lilly’s oral obesity drug, is under FDA review with a decision expected in April. The pharma has also filed for marketing authorization for the pill in China.
Industry and FDA representatives have reached a general agreement on planned pre-submission facility meetings but have expressed different views about the specifics.
Analysts expect the market for manufacturing cell and gene therapies, worth less than $20 billion in 2024, to expand rapidly as approvals drive higher volumes of production.
Industry groups have identified upfront costs as a barrier to streamlining U.S. drugmaking. The nonprofit API Innovation Center has a proposed answer for how to tilt finances in favor of investments in continuous manufacturing.
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