Contract manufacturing news in brief

By Kirsty Barnes


17/10/2007 - Microbix Biosystems, PacificGMP and Insulet have all recently announced new contract manufacturing news.

ALS Therapy Development Institute has forged a one-year manufacturing deal with Microbix Biosystems who will purify and characterise a series of adenoviruses for the research firm.

Adenoviruses are non-pathogenic viruses that can deliver specifically selected genes to key sites in the body or to cultured cells for therapeutic purposes and in this instance they will be created to carry therapies to sites of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathology.

The firm will then use these adenoviruses in its research to discover a treatment for ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease - a progressive neuromuscular disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord and is largely fatal. Currently there is no cure or effective treatment for ALS.

"The production of high titer adenoviral constructs required for animal testing requires specialised manufacturing expertise that only recognised leaders in the field like Microbix can deliver," says Steve Perrin, chief scientific officer at ALS.

In other news, PacificGMP has been hired by BD Biosciences to create and store master and working cell banks and manufacture antibodies to good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards on its behalf.

Master and working cell banks are a two-level storage system of mammalian cells, which are used in the production of biopharmaceuticals. No terms of the deal were disclosed.

Recently Insulet announced a new arrangement to outsource the production of its insulin pump to contract engineering firm Flextronics International.

US-based Insulet called in for reinforcements after it was unable to make enough of the insulin devices, called Omnipod, to keep up with market demand.

There are only a few insulin pumps on the market, but the Omnipod device reportedly uses an advanced pump technology and is disposable and wireless, making it, according to some, cheaper and easier to use than competing products.

Meanwhile, Arbor Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has recruited Pharmaceutical Sciences Institute of North Carolina's Campbell University to help it develop a novel drug formulation for ear infections in children.

Arbor is a small specialty pharmaceutical company that focuses on paediatric drugs and this is to be the company's second product.

http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/ne...-manufacturing