Turkey is establishing a new biotechnology valley in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, with the foundation of the project set to be laid within six months. The TL 12 billion project will contribute to the production of pharmaceuticals and high-value export materials and provide jobs for 30,000 people. Read more
The heartburn medicine Zantac appears to produce unacceptably high levels of a cancer-causing chemical when exposed to heat for as little as five days, according to a testing laboratory that’s urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recall all forms of the widely used product. Read more
Biopharma M&A activity scaled record highs in 2019, with a few mega mergers announced involving names such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Roche Holdings AG Basel ADR and AbbVie Inc Read more
2019 will be remembered as the year of the pharma mega-merger
2019 continued on very much the same trajectory as it began – as Takeda’s huge merger with Shire closed as the year dawned it became clear that big pharma was not done with acquisitions. Read more
UCB to invest €300 million creating 150 new jobs in new biotech plant
International bio-pharmaceuticals company UCB, based in Brussels, is to invest €300 million in a new biotechnology plant in Braine l’Alleud in Walloon Brabant, creating 150 new jobs. The company already employs 1,800 people at the site south of Brussels. Read more
In a move that could save countless lives, the FDA has approved a vaccine designed to combat Ebola with a truly incredible success rate. The drug, called Ervebo, has proven itself in Ebola-devastated areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and while cases of Ebola are uncommon in the United States, it’s a powerful weapon in the arsenal of healthcare workers. Read more
The collaboration is experimentally testing use of AI in Sartorius products and platform solutions.
Sartorius and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) have established the Sartorius AI Lab (SAIL) research laboratory. The collaboration is experimentally testing the use of AI in Sartorius products and platform solutions. Read more
These days, biotech R&D is as much a data problem as a science problem.
Here’s why: in the past decade, the exploding field of synthetic biology has done an incredible job solving the scientific challenges of making biology easier to engineer. I have written about how tools like gene editing, synthesis, sequencing, and automation are changing for the better the way we feed, fuel, heal, and build our world with biology. Read more
Novartis AG launched a lottery-style program to give away doses of its pricey gene therapy for free, drawing criticism from patient groups that say that is an inappropriate way to distribute a lifesaving treatment aimed at babies.
Zolgensma, a one-shot cure for a deadly inherited disease whose victims cannot control their muscles, is so far sold only in the U.S. at a price of $2.1 million, making it the world’s most expensive drug. The so-called global managed-access program is aimed at providing Zolgensma to a limited number…
