UCB, which recently pulled off a $2.5 billion for an autoimmune drug candidate, says it sees the need for more biopharma production. To fill it, it will build a €300 million ($333 million) facility and staff it with 150 new workers.
The Belgium company says work on the facility will begin soon at its site in Braine l’Alleud, Wallonia, Belgium. The plant is slated to be operational in 2024.
It said the biotechnology plant is needed for the future launch of monoclonal antibody drug therapies in clinical development.
“The shift of our pipeline towards large molecules requires us to ramp up investment in mammalian technical development, as well as our manufacturing capabilities,” Kirsten Lund-Jurgensen, head of supply and technology at UCB, said in a statement.
The announcement comes just two months after UCB struck a deal to acquire Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech Ra Pharmaceuticals. With the takeover, UCB will get a phase 3 rival to Alexion’s Soliris that analysts have pegged to hit blockbuster sales.
The Ra drug candidate is focused on a once-daily, self-administered, subcutaneous C5 inhibitor called zilucoplan which is in phase 3 trials for myasthenia gravis.
MG is a long-term autoimmune neuromuscular condition that causes muscle weakness, particularly affecting the face, but can also extend to the arms legs and neck in more severe cases, known as generalized MG. It can cause difficulties with swallowing, speaking and breathing and in some cases these can become severe—known as a myasthenic crisis—and require hospitalization.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
Avivi joins Bayer fresh off a yearlong stint as chief marketing officer of Advance Auto Parts, which followed about three years spent as marketing chief of another auto parts company, Tenneco. Rounding out her nearly 30-year career in marketing are leadership roles at consumer goods giants Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.
Air Liquide S.A. (Paris) is continuing its development with the acquisition of Homecare activities in Belgium and the Netherlands. The two entities acquired in Belgium and the Netherlands support 10,000 patients living with respiratory insufficiency, sleep apnea syndrome or requiring infusion or nutrition treatments.
US-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay approximately $4.9 billion in cash to acquire Alpine Immune Sciences, a compatriot biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing innovative, protein-based immunotherapies.
