Contract Pharma

Editor’s Take: The biosimilars will provide further options to treat multiple cancers and bleeding in patients with hemophilia. Alvotech has a licensing and commercialization agreement with Lotus Pharmaceutical, covering two Alvotech biosimilars in the United States and Asia. The partnership applies to eight Asian markets: South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

Editor’s Take: Pharma partnerships are zeroing in on common areas of expertise to remedy unmet needs faster. In “The Friday Brief,” let’s get right into it—a busy week with alliances forming and growing. Piramal Pharma has increased its ownership stake in Yapan Bio by over 40%, a nearly $8 million cash consideration. This brings Piramal’s total ownership of Yapan’s equity to 74%, making Yapan a Piramal subsidiary.

MedPharm has become an Olink Certified Service Provider (CSP), making it the first Olink CSP in the Carolinas and one of three in the Southeastern U.S. The addition of Olink technology allows MedPharm to combine proteomic data with disease models using reconstructed and ex vivo human tissues. The approach can help researchers evaluate therapeutic activity, biological responses and potential mechanisms of action in human-relevant models.

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, plans to invest approximately $750 million into a new device fill-finish manufacturing facility at its 75-acre campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, bringing new end-to-end device filling capabilities to the site and expanding capacity to support the future pipeline of innovative medicines across Roche and Genentech. The new facility will support the manufacturing of advanced drug delivery devices, such as pre-filled syringes and autoinjectors.

Editor’s Take: The amount of money going into U.S. manufacturing is hard to miss. Lilly, Merck, Roche, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca each recently announced multiyear U.S. investment plans of $50 billion or more. Halo Pharma, a CDMO specializing in drug product pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services, is close to activating a new sterile injectable manufacturing line at its Whippany, NJ facility.

Sterile injectable programs can get much harder to manage as they move closer to Phase 3 and commercial production. Sponsors are often dealing with tighter capacity, longer lead times, more complex regulatory requirements, and the need to make sure their manufacturing partner has the right infrastructure and technical experience in place.

Editor’s Take: A launch, relaunch, or rebrand often reflects—as in this case—a switch from domestic to global focus. Sino Biopharmaceutical, based in China, launched a new global brand, SBP Group, during an interim results meeting on Aug. 19.

Editor’s Take: Such collaborations as this require scientific rigor and unity with global regulatory standards to ensure efficient advances. Charles River Laboratories and Medigen Vaccine Biologics plan to characterize and validate a virus seed bank for a next-generation vaccine. The collaboration centers on Medigen Vaccine Biologics (MVC)’s next-gen multivalent enterovirus vaccine, for which Charles River will contribute advanced analytics.

Editor’s Take: Chai’s agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb demonstrates the increasing speed of adoption of AI models by major pharmaceutical companies. Learn how AI is reshaping early drug development. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has entered a collaboration with Chai Discovery, an AI company, to advance the discovery of therapeutic antibodies using artificial intelligence.

Editor’s Take: Cold chain logistics is undergoing a fundamental transformation as pharmaceutical development shifts toward increasingly temperature‑sensitive, individualized therapies and more patient‑centric distribution models. Learn how advanced therapies, DTP distribution, and real‑time visibility are reshaping cold chain design. IAG Cargo has enhanced its global pharmaceuticals offering with a new station at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.