INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, DIAGNOSTICS
Globenewswire | April 10, 2023
Avid Bioservices, Inc. a dedicated biologics contract development and manufacturing organization working to improve patient lives by providing high quality development and manufacturing services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, announced the completion of two expansions within the company’s mammalian cell facilities. The company expects that the first customer for the newly expanded CGMP mammalian cell suites will begin manufacture this month. To celebrate the launch of the newly expanded facilities, Avid is hosting an open house and tour for existing and prospective clients.
“We are proud to unveil our completed expansions and excited to kick off the first customer project within our latest, state-of-the-art mammalian cell manufacturing suites. These build-outs involved great complexity and required exemplary efforts from our entire team. I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work from everyone who played a role in completing these significant projects on schedule,” said Nick Green, president and chief executive officer of Avid Bioservices. “This launch could not be timed any better based on the significant demand we continue to see for our mammalian cell services, highlighted by significant new business wins and the largest backlog in the history of the company.”
The newly expanded manufacturing capacity includes both upstream and downstream CGMP manufacturing suites and serves as complement to Avid’s existing Myford facility, providing increased capacity to address the needs of both existing and future mammalian cell business customers. The addition of the capacity provided by the new manufacturing suites within the Myford facility has the potential to generate approximately an additional $100 million in annual revenue.
In addition to the launch of the newly expanded Myford facility, Avid also announced the completion of its mammalian cell process development expansion, which has doubled the company’s total process development capacity. Now operational, these new capabilities have the potential to support up to an additional $25 million in annual process development revenue.
With the completion of these mammalian cell capacity expansion projects, Avid’s sole ongoing expansion effort involves the build-out of its new cell and gene therapy facility which will support early-stage development through commercial manufacturing. The company has already launched analytical and process development capabilities at this viral vector facility and remains on track to launch the CGMP manufacturing suites by the end of the third quarter of calendar 2023.
Upon completion of the CGT Facility, we estimate that our combined facilities will have the potential to bring our total revenue generating capacity to up to approximately $400 million annually.
About Avid Bioservices, Inc.
Avid Bioservices an S&P SmallCap 600 company, is a dedicated contract development and manufacturing organization focused on development and CGMP manufacturing of biologics. The company provides a comprehensive range of process development, CGMP clinical and commercial manufacturing services for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. With 30 years of experience producing monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins, Avid's services include CGMP clinical and commercial drug substance manufacturing, bulk packaging, release and stability testing and regulatory submissions support. For early-stage programs the company provides a variety of process development activities, including upstream and downstream development and optimization, analytical methods development, testing and characterization. The scope of our services ranges from standalone process development projects to full development and manufacturing programs through commercialization.
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CELL AND GENE THERAPY, INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Globenewswire | May 10, 2023
Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation a commercial stage biotechnology company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to detect and treat disease, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted an investigational new drug (IND) application submitted by its collaborator, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, for a T-cell receptor (TCR) based T-Cell Therapy. This is the first TCR-based therapeutic product candidate to advance into clinical development based on Adaptive’s collaboration with Genentech in oncology.
“This IND acceptance reaffirms the value of our immune medicine platform and Adaptive’s ability to identify and characterize clinical grade, therapeutic T-cell receptors, which is the cornerstone of our drug discovery capabilities,” said Chad Robins, chief executive officer and co-founder, Adaptive Biotechnologies. “We look forward to supporting Genentech’s world-class team of scientists and drug developers to advance this potentially life-saving therapy into the clinic for patients with solid tumors.”
Under the terms of Adaptive and Genentech’s collaboration agreement, Genentech has responsibility for clinical, regulatory and commercialization efforts for any T-Cell Therapy product candidate. Adaptive reiterates its full year revenue guidance in the range of $205 to $215 million.
About Adaptive Biotechnologies
Adaptive Biotechnologies is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing the inherent biology of the adaptive immune system to transform the diagnosis and treatment of disease. We believe the adaptive immune system is nature’s most finely tuned diagnostic and therapeutic for most diseases, but the inability to decode it has prevented the medical community from fully leveraging its capabilities. Our proprietary immune medicine platform reveals and translates the massive genetics of the adaptive immune system with scale, precision and speed. We apply our platform to partner with biopharmaceutical companies, inform drug development, and develop clinical diagnostics across our two business areas: Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) and Immune Medicine. Our commercial products and clinical pipeline enable the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. Our goal is to develop and commercialize immune-driven clinical products tailored to each individual patient.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
PRNewswire | May 30, 2023
Guardant Health, Inc. announced that Singapore's Health Sciences Authority has granted regulatory approval of Guardant360® CDx, a liquid biopsy test for tumor mutation profiling, also known as comprehensive genomic profiling in patients with advanced solid cancers. The Guardant360 CDx test was also approved as a companion diagnostic to identify patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with epidermal growth factor receptor alterations who may benefit from treatment with TAGRISSO®.
Guardant360 CDx is the first blood test to be approved by Singapore's HSA for comprehensive genomic profiling for all solid tumors. Since being introduced as a laboratory developed test the Guardant360 liquid biopsy has become widely accepted for blood-based CGP with more than 400 peer-reviewed publications.
"We are delighted to receive regulatory approval from HSA for our Guardant360 CDx test, as it supports the value liquid biopsy brings to oncologists and the patients they treat," said Simranjit Singh, CEO of Guardant Health AMEA. "With a simple blood draw from the patient, the Guardant360 CDx test provides CGP results in approximately seven days from receipt of the blood sample in the laboratory, enabling physicians to make faster treatment decisions compared to tissue biopsies. Our hope is that this approval will drive clinical adoption of liquid biopsy testing in Singapore and enable more patients to be matched to potentially life-changing precision medicines."
In 2020, over 23,600 people in Singapore were diagnosed with cancer and there were slightly over 12,000 cancer-related deaths. The most prevalent cancer types among men and women in Singapore include breast (15.5%), colorectal (15.1%) and lung (12.3%) cancer[1]. According to the Singapore Cancer Registry Annual Report 2020, over 70% of all lung cancer cases among men and women were diagnosed at the advanced stage[2]. Pancreatic, stomach and colorectal cancer cases among men and women were also diagnosed at the advanced stage respectively To improve cancer outcomes in Singapore, Guardant Health AMEA is currently collaborating with National Cancer Centre Singapore and National University Cancer Institute, Singapore for several clinical trials using the Guardant360 test in efforts to accelerate clinical trial enrollment by identifying genomic biomarkers in patients with cancer.
The Guardant360 CDx test was the first blood test to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for comprehensive genomic profiling for all solid tumors, and it is now FDA approved as a companion diagnostic test for four targeted therapies in NSCLC and one in advanced breast cancer. In March 2022, the test was also granted regulatory approval by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for tumor mutation profiling in patients with advanced solid cancers as well as a companion diagnostic to identify patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-High) solid tumors who may benefit from Keytruda® and patients with MSI-High advanced colorectal cancer who may benefit from Opdivo®. In addition, Guardant Health is currently involved in multiple studies with drug development companies to develop Guardant360 CDx as a companion diagnostic for new therapies.
About Guardant Health
Guardant Health AMEA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardant Health, Inc., a leading precision oncology company focused on helping conquer cancer globally through use of its proprietary tests, vast data sets and advanced analytics. The Guardant Health oncology platform leverages capabilities to drive commercial adoption, improve patient clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs across all stages of the cancer care continuum. Guardant Health has commercially launched Guardant360®, Guardant360® CDx, Guardant360 TissueNext™, Guardant360 Response™, and GuardantINFINITY™ tests for patients with advanced-stage cancer, and Guardant Reveal™ for patients with early-stage cancer. The Guardant Health screening portfolio, including the commercially launched Shield™ test, aims to address the needs of individuals eligible for cancer screening.
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