Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/LoveEmployee.com
Veranova, a manufacturer and developer of specialist and complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, has begun to expand its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and highly potent compound development and manufacturing capabilities at its Devens, MA facility.1 The FDA-approved site that has over a decade of experience in the development, scale-up, and clinical and commercial production of ADC linker-payloads and other highly potent APIs.
The financial commitment—valued at an estimated $30 million—is expected to add to the plant’s current development and manufacturing services; it’ll also help meet the demand for US-based capacity for ADCs along with other potent small molecules; the FDA-approved site already has over a decade of experience in the development, scale-up, and clinical and commercial production of ADC linker-payloads and other highly potent APIs.
The project features a new high-potent process development laboratory and two new current good manufacturing process (cGMP) suites designed to handle potent compounds with occupational exposure limits (OEL) of less than 0.01 µg/m³. The facilities are prepared to handle high-potency compounds, ADC linker-payloads, and other complex molecules, while featuring air handling systems, airlocks for clean-in-place operations, isolator technology, and a wide range of processing capabilities, such as chromatography, synthesis reactors, lyophilization, and thin film evaporators.
“At Veranova, we recognize the growing demand for development and manufacturing of ADCs and other highly potent compounds,” said Mike Riley, CEO of Veranova. “This investment signals our commitment to providing state of the art capacity and capabilities to enable these next generation therapies to reach patients, and is a key milestone as we advance our broader growth strategy for Veranova.”
In other Veranova news, the company unveiled that it was collaborating with Phorum.AI2 on augmenting pharmaceutical manufacturing processes with the help of artificial intelligence (AI); Phorum.AI’s work revolves around the implementation of generative AI systems to help biopharma companies rapidly design manufacturing processes that can lower costs and speed development timelines, while decreasing one’s environmental footprint.
The involved parties plan on utilizing Veranova’s empirical manufacturing dataset—in conjunction with Phorum.AI’s generative AI know-how—to create a tool that will facilitate the development of manufacturing processes at a quicker rate.
“Phorum.AI and Veranova have the potential to create a step change in the quality and development efficiency of pharmaceutical processing,” added Riley. “We are delighted to partner with a leading AI technology innovator to be able to offer our clients a new capability that has the potential to develop optimized manufacturing processes at an accelerated pace.”
Phorum.AI executives were also ecstatic about the collaboration.
“By partnering with Veranova, a worldwide leader in developing and manufacturing APIs, we are able to more rapidly scale our market footprint and create greater impact sooner,” commented Dan Chinnapen, CEO of Phorum.AI. “We are excited to reduce time to market and mitigate costs for much-needed therapeutics.”
References
1. Veranova Announces New Investment to Expand ADC and Highly Potent API Capabilities at Devens, MA, Facility. Veranova. June 27, 2024. Accessed July 1, 2024. https://veranova.com/news/veranova-announces-new-investment-to-expand-adc-and-highly-potent-api-capabilities-at-devens-ma-facility/
2. Veranova and Phorum.AI Partner to Deliver Generative AI Chemistry Optimization to the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry. Veranova. May 16, 2024. Accessed July 1, 2024. https://veranova.com/news/veranova-and-phorum-ai-partner-to-deliver-generative-ai-chemistry-optimization-to-the-pharmaceutical-and-biotech-industry/
