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Tamara will be attending BIO-Europe 2007, Hamburg, 12-14 Nov. If you would like to set up a meeting please contact Tamara
Once again we will be sponsoring this year’s BioProcess UK Conference in Cardiff, 28-29 Nov. Crawford & Derek will be attending so why not come and visit us at our Stand.
Crawford & Derek will be exhibiting at Genesis, London, 13 Dec. Come and visit us at Stand No 84.
I’ve quite a selection of candidates for this month’s review. There was the BIA AGM and networking evening, several major European and US partnering meetings and trade shows and not a few occasions for client hospitality. In all this smorgasbord of dining delight however, I’m going to opt for McDonalds in Frankfurt Airport...
Richard and I had just successfully delivered another training ‘Master Class’ (?!) in Outsourcing and CMO selection in Hamburg and we were returning via Frankfurt Airport. Frankfurt is definitely one of those airports that never seems to end - with a frankly bewildering array of terminal options and signage that provides plenty of possibilities for panic. Still, we had a 90 minute transit time. More than sufficient time to stroll past a few shops, grab a meal and leisurely board the connecting flight - or so we thought...
After initially getting lost, then walking about a mile and a half, catching a train, getting lost again, walking some more, queuing to get through security, persuading the officials that Richard’s laptop has never been used in the assembly of explosives, and a bit more walking, we made it to the Gate, sweating, with 20 minutes to departure. And we were starving. Not a single café, restaurant or sandwich bar in sight. After asking at the gate we were told that the only place we could make it to and back from in time was a Mickey Ds - although it would be cutting it fine. Appetite wins over reason every time so we began a stiff march back the way we had come. The further we went however, the more nervous we became, corridor after corridor, elevators, stairs, another security point (and a delay whilst Richard had his laptop re-swabbed for explosives). Eventually we felt a wave of relief as we glimpsed the famous golden arches. It’s been some time since I’ve had occasion to patronise McD’s so we went for the classic Big Mac option and crammed it down our throats (in my case with fries that had been lightly sprinkled over a liberal serving of salt). I’ve got to admit - it tasted good and hit the spot. Until I deciphered the (mal) nutritional information on the box during a momentary pause to swallow - and realised I’d just consumed about three quarters of my recommended daily allowance of calories, twice the recommended level of saturated fat and enough salt to salinate the river Mersey.
We literally sprinted back to the gate, big Macs rolling around in the gut, only pausing to go through security yet again and for Richard to have his (what can only be the standard al-Qaeda issue laptop) taken apart and re-swabbed for explosives for a third time. I confess I didn’t bother to wait this time but ran head long for the plane home...
Derek Ellison
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Thank you for reading our latest newsletter. I know the mini reviews Derek writes on restaurants, hotels and, occasionally, badly engineered US automobiles, provoke the most interest and comment but I would just like to re-iterate that we welcome external contributions for either this or the industry news section. To stimulate interest we are offering a bottle of Malt Whiskey (or Champagne, depending on your preference) to the authors of any published reviews. For more details please contact me on the details at the bottom of this newsletter.
This month AstraZeneca has announced restructuring changes amidst a fall in next income for the third quarter by 15%. Crestor is the latest product under attack with an ANDA being filed by Cobalt Pharmaceuticals. The company has already announced plans to cut 7600 jobs and place more reliance on outsourcing as a strategic option. AstraZeneca also announced that, in a change of strategy, the name of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) will disappear as the business is integrated into Medimmune to unite all biologics activities. AstraZeneca is on track to have biologics account for 25% of its pipeline by 2010. Considering that prior to the CAT acquisition in June 2006 AstraZeneca has virtually no biologics in clinical development, this is a major change in direction.
Following 20-30 redundancies in Cambridge, Dr John Stageman will assume the role of interim UK site head in Cambridge and Liverpool (where Medimmune has a facility for the manufacture of FluMist).
Humira, the monoclonal antibody discovered by CAT and licensed to Abbot, continues to be the star in the latter’s portfolio. Sales increased by 48% in the third quarter to $803 million (more than twice that of Abbots second largest selling drug, Depakote) with predicted annual sales of $3 billion for 2007. Humira now has more than 30% of the US biologics market for Crohns disease and Abott expects that Humira will be approved for psoriasis in the first quarter next year.
In biomanufacturing, Novartis has announced that Singapore will be the location for it’s new $700 million cell culture facility. The plant is scheduled to be on line by 2012 and employ 300 people. The focus will be on monoclonal antibodies for clinical trials and in market supply. Singapore (which has a ground area of only 253 square miles, or 655 square Km) publicly announced a strategy to bring large scale investment for biologics manufacturing to the Island. The city state has delivered; In two years Genetech, Lonza and GSK have begun work on major biomanufacturing facilities, with Lonza recently announcing a further major investment.
This month, we are pleased to announce that we have recently signed an extension to our initial contract with ImmBio, Cambridge, UK to develop their innovative influenza vaccine. The new contract covers a range of development and cGMP manufacturing services to produce material for ImmBio’s Phase I clinical trial.
 We are also very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Roger Lias as President, Eden Biodesign, USA. Roger’s previous positions were leading Global Business Development activities for Cytovance Biologics, KBI BioPharma, Diosynth Biotechnology (formerly Covance Biotechnology Services) and heading North American sales and marketing efforts for Lonza Biologics (formerly Celltech Biologics). Roger holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, UK. Roger’s expertise and experience will be a tremendous asset to Eden as we seek to develop both new clients and a significant US presence in the near future.
Last month, we exhibited at the BioProcess International™ Conference & Exhibition in Boston, USA to raise the profile of Eden in the US. Derek, Kassim and Crawford attended the event and this year we ran a prize raffle to win a I-Pod Nano. Pictured below Kassim Kolia presenting the I-Pod to the winner Thomas P. Loisel Phd, of Enobia Pharma Inc. Congratulations!
Last Thursday saw the third joint networking event with SAFC Biosciences at the NBC which also marked the 1st Anniversary of the official opening of the Centre. Crawford Brown gave an update on Eden’s progress over the last year and Archie Cullen, Vice President Sales & Marketing, SAFC Biosciences also gave a presentation to over 80 friends and colleagues who were able to join us on the night.
Because of the recent successes in signing new contracts we once again need to expand the development and cGMP manufacturing teams. We have an advert for multiple roles in the current edition of New Scientist. Please refer to our website for details and job descriptions.
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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