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Tamara will be attending ERBI’s 9th Annual Cambridge BioPartnering Exchange, Cambridge, 27-29 June
Kassim will be attending Pharma Bio Outsourcing, London, 10-11 July
Richard will be attending Stem Cell Manchester International Conference, Manchester, 16-18 July
Derek will be attending Novel Vaccines, Boston, 22-24 August
Tamara will be presenting on Day 2 at the Biopharmaceutical Summer School, Cambridge, 29-31 August
Our recent trip to BIO2007 in Boston gave us ample opportunity to experience the best and worst of the US hospitality industry! In the spirit of Clint Eastwood – here are a few suggestions of places to aim for, and duck out of the way of, in Cambridge, MA...
The Good: Breakfast and brunch at The Charles Hotel’s “Henrietta’s Table”. Great food and great value. They certainly know how to cater for the hungry. Crawford seemed on a mission to out-eat the rest of the business development team put together with breakfasts of increasing fortitude as the week went on. For example; poached eggs and baked harrington ham on anadama bread with hollandaise sauce and fresh asparagus could have fed three grown men. And I’m as fond of asparagus as the next man - but for breakfast?
Dinner at ‘Harvest’. A favourite for visiting academics and Arthur D Little consultants (apparently!). Fantastic seafood, a charming restaurant and bar and a beautiful courtyard area for al fresco dining!
The Bad: The Harvard Square Hotel. Don’t be fooled by the web site. The statement “offers comfortable & inviting guest accommodations and all the amenities you would need, whether traveling on business or on pleasure and all at a great value” borders on the libelous. The location was great, the digital LCD TV in the room was good - but that was about it. The best part of $300 a night for a room half the size of the Heathrow airport travelodge, $38 a day car parking and an uncanny ability to lose dry cleaning about sums the place up. It’s also the only hotel in the US I have ever stayed in where the staff have been surly and bordering on rude. If you are going to spend that kind of money on hotels in the Boston area, you can do far, far better.
The Ugly: Moving slightly outside my normal remit with this one but, not for the first time in Boston, I hired a car. Driving in the centre of Boston is never a joy although it’s the only place in the US I’ve driven that boasts roundabouts (traffic circles). This time though, the only car I could get was the fearsomely ugly Chrysler Aspen. If you want to take a look... Massive, slow, felt strangely fragile over potholes and does about 3 miles to the gallon. Also wider than the average Cambridge parking space - which provided amusement for my passengers at least!
Derek Ellison
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Thank you for reading the 9th edition of our newsletter! Also, thank you for all the feedback we’ve had recently on the content (especially the ‘review section’!). Given the volume of emails that arrive in my inbox these days, I’m pleased so many people take the time to read our e-news. We continue to welcome suggestions, changes (and contributing authors!).
Whilst some consider the discipline of biomanufacturing rather mundane compared to the exciting world of drug discovery, the subject is increasingly in the news.
PricewaterhouseCoopers recently reported that the global pharmaceutical market will more than double in value to $1.3 trillion by 2020. Countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and Mexico will account for 20% of global pharmaceutical sales. However, Pwc points out, the current industry business model is not capable of sustaining this demand either economically or operationally. Clearly, big pharma is going to have to work smarter, faster and new paradigms must be explored and adopted.
As part of this accelerating growth curve, to help solve the burgeoning manpower needs, CMO’s have been hiring big pharma manufacturing expertise in droves and big pharma has been buying up and building new manufacturing plants.
Recent Acquisitions and Expansions
As examples of some of the recent acquisition activity, in early May 2007, Sigma-Aldrich announced that it had acquired the biologics contract manufacturer, Molecular Medicine BioServices (MMB), in an all-cash transaction. Sigma-Aldrich expects the new addition will serve to boost their biologics capabilities and expertise within their SAFC Pharma business segment. The deal includes MMB’s laboratory, headquarters building and manufacturing facilities in Carlsbad, California, USA. MMB has produced clinical-grade biopharmaceuticals for a number of cancer indications including head, neck, prostate and pancreatic, plus other therapeutic indicators for Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease.
Also, industry giant AstraZeneca recently acquired the biologics manufacturing facility from DSM Biologics Inc., in Montreal, the business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products. The 66,000-square foot facility will manufacture antibody drug candidates for clinical trials and is expected to serve the entire AstraZeneca group. Full-scale production is expected to start in 2009. The purchase coincided with AZ CEO David Brennan’s recent announcement that the company has an increased commitment to ‘large molecule’ biological drugs - as evidenced by the recent purchase of Medimmune.
And in early June, US industry leader Genzyme announced that it will build a new 140,000-square foot biomanufacturing plant in Lyon, France, to produce Thymoglobulin®, a treatment used in transplantation. Construction is slated to start later this year and routine manufacturing should be on-line by 2011. The nine-acre site allows sufficient room for expansion if needed.
In May, Crawford, Derek and the BD Team attended BIO 2007 in Boston. This year the event drew a record 22,366 attendees and is still by far the largest biotechnology conference to attend in the bio events calendar. Along with the 1,800+ exhibitors we had our small and modest exhibition stand raising the profile of Eden Biodesign and the NBC and, with over 70 pre arranged meetings, generating a great deal of interest for the business.
Stand at BIO 2007, Boston
We have recently begun a microbial development project for Sarum Ltd, a UK SME that has received funding from the National Biomanufacturing Centre Access Fund. In addition to operating the NBC to the benefit of the UK Biotech industry specifically, Eden Biodesign’s goal is to build a successful international contract manufacturing business. We are delighted to be able to announce a major step towards this objective with the signing of our first US contract. Eden Biodesign will provide GMP services to Shire Human Genetic Therapies Inc, Cambridge, MA.
In other news, our Annual Charity Run (was it really 12 months since the last one?!) was the Knowsley Corporate Challenge on 10 June. The event took place on a Sunday morning which was very hot and humid with glorious sunshine and all 12 colleagues managed to complete the 5K course without too many injuries to raise funds for the following two charities - National Autistic Society and Zoe’s Place Trust. Many thanks to all those who sponsored us.
Pictured L-R this year’s runners: Alison, Sarah, Louise, Ralph, Jo, Crawford, Anita, Phil, Tamara, Andrew, Scott, Dave (and Neve!)
Andrew Clutterbuck, Eden’s Senior Purification Scientist has recently had a joint article entitled ’Separation & Purification: Endotoxin Reduction Using Disposable Membrane Adsorption Technology in cGMP Manufacturing’ published in BioPharm International. To view the article - click here.
This newsletter is prepared by Eden Biodesign and comments and suggestions are most welcome.
Please address them to: Johanne Tabern (Tel: 0151 728 1750)
Eden Biodesign
National Biomanufacturing Centre, Estuary Banks
Estuary Commerce Park, Speke Road, Liverpool L24 8RB
www.edenbiodesign.com
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, please email Johanne to be removed from the mailing list.
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