NCBiotech News

Novozymes and Chr. Hansen this week announced their future name: Novonesis. 

“The name reflects the beginning of an era of biosolutions where Novonesis will unleash the full potential of biological solutions and generate significant value for all stakeholders and society at large. The announcement of the name marks an important milestone towards uniting the two companies,” according to a news release announcing the new name. 

Raleigh-based Helixomer, a pre-clinical, drug-development company created at North Carolina State University, has won a $2 million federal grant to advance a pair of novel drugs to regulate bleeding and clotting in patients.

Morrisville-based NightHawk Biosciences is changing direction – and business strategy.

The company has announced the divestiture of its biodefense subsidiary, Elusys Therapeutics, and other related assets to become a pure play large molecule biomanufacturing contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). That means growing and expanding its new Scorpius Biomanufacturing business.

Oceans across the globe are being overfished at unsustainable levels, giving rise to new approaches to satisfy increasing demand for seafood.

One familiar approach is to produce farm-raised fish. In fact, this practice - known as aquaculture - now produces almost as much seafood globally as wild catch, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNC Pembroke) today announced an inaugural bioprocessing training to help students and residents prepare for entry-level positions in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

After his 30-plus years of work in agricultural technology, one thing is crystal clear to Kevin Helash.

“No matter where I travel in the world, consumers are looking for safe, healthy, affordable food produced with less chemicals,” he said in an interview.

Helash is now well positioned to help meet that demand. He recently became chief executive officer of Biotalys NV, an ag biotech company that is developing safe, effective and environmentally friendly biologicals to protect food crops from pests and diseases.

(Editor Note: This story originally appeared in the NC State News.)

For almost as long as NC State University has existed, sports rivals have teasingly called us Moo U or Cow College, thanks to our strengths in agricultural research and education.

So it’s only right that decades of groundwork at NC State might one day help cattle farmers worldwide better control their livestock’s gut microbiome — a collection of microbes that aid digestion — and cool the climate as a result.

Results from a collaborative project between Tiamat Sciences and BIOMILQ — women-owned biotechnology startups in Research Triangle Park — show the promise of using plant-based proteins to lower the cost of producing food using cultured cells.  

Astellas Pharma Inc. announced that it will acquire Propella Therapeutics, Inc., based in Pittsboro. Propella is a privately held biopharmaceutical company that has leveraged a wholly owned proprietary platform that combines medicinal chemistry with lymphatic targeting to create new oncology drugs.

Through the acquisition of Propella, Astellas will acquire PRL-02 (abiraterone decanoate), an androgen biosynthesis inhibitor being developed by Propella to treat prostate cancer. 

Avior Bio, a small Cary startup developing a treatment for pruritus, or chronic itchy skin, has secured an agreement to license its clinical-stage therapy to a New Jersey pharmaceutical company.

A new company is coming to town.

Donaldson, a global provider of filtration products and solutions, announced November 9 that it is opening a 25,000-square-foot life sciences technical center in Research Triangle Park (RTP).

The company said the facility – centrally located to support emerging biotechnology companies – will contain laboratories and cleanrooms with manufacturing capacity. It will support the design, development, launch and early commercialization of bioprocessing solutions.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center was saddened to learn that Philip Benfey, Ph.D., an inspiring and pioneering plant geneticist and entrepreneur, passed away on Sept. 26 at the age of 70. Benfey was the Paul Kramer professor of biology at Duke University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator.

Grifols, a global leader in plasma medicines, today announced it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new immunoglobulin (Ig) purification and filling facility at its Clayton manufacturing campus, one of the world’s largest sites for producing plasma-derived medicines.

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies has the first tenant for its huge $2 billion contract biomanufacturing site under construction in Holly Springs, 20 miles southwest of Raleigh.

The company said Janssen Supply Group, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, has committed to a large-scale manufacturing suite at the new plant, which should be fully operational in 2025. FUJIFILM Diosynth, a division of FUJIFILM, said the commitment is an extension of an existing relationship and will support the manufacture of Janssen’s clinical and commercial pipeline.

Veterans and military members transitioning out of their time in service have skills and experiences that many employers are searching for.

Life sciences companies have world-class manufacturing centers that need to be staffed with an experienced, reliable, detail-oriented workforce.

So why not match up the two?