In its Q4 earnings call to investors on February 25 vaccine developer Vaxcyte expressed optimism about its VAX-31 invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) vaccine program and discussed the company’s efforts to scale manufacturing through its partnership with Lonza “As part of our long-standing partnership with Lonza we are executing on our plan to establish a purpose-built large-scale manufacturing suite within Lonza's Ibex dedicated biopark,” said Grant Pickering Lonza’s Ibex Biomanufacturing Complex in Visp, Switzerland is home to a custom-built manufacturing platform for Vaxcyte. The companies signed an agreement to collaborate on global manufacturing for Vaxcyte’s VAX-24 and VAX-31 vaccine candidates for broad-spectrum pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in October 2023 Vaxcyte committed $127.8 million in 2024 to its dedicated manufacturing suite bringing its total investment in the project to $214.3 million Vaxcyte expects increased spending in 2025 related to research and development “This expected increase is primarily the result of manufacturing-related investments to prepare for our initial launch in the adult market the initiation of the VAX-31 adult Phase 3 clinical program and the growth in the number of our employees to support these and other initiatives.” The company is making steady progress with its VAX-24 as well, though it is still in an earlier stage of development. That vaccine hit a snag in 2021 due to setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic but Phase II trials are now well-funded and underway But given vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy’s recent confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the US companies such as Vaxcyte must consider possible changes in government oversight as they work toward commercialization The firm announced the establishment of a dedicated public affairs function to enhance engagement with US policy makers “We have been working constructively with the new administration to ensure that science-driven evidence-based policies continue to guide vaccine development and public health decision-making,” said Andrew Guggenhime we will continue to engage with the FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and ACIP [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] to foster a regulatory framework that continues to encourage investment in vaccine “We are leveraging our existing manufacturing infrastructure with Lonza to support the anticipated US launch of VAX-31 for the adult population,” Pickering said we are well-prepared to execute on our plans and bring broad-spectrum vaccines to market Our ability to advance these programs is underpinned by a strong financial position ensuring we have the resources to advance clinical development Josh moved to BioProcess Insider in July 2024 after joining the Informa team in 2022 as an editor for BioProcess International He received his degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and is therefore obligated to say "Go Ducks," even though he kind of feels sorry for the state rival Beavers and wishes they would win more than once a decade CSL Seqirus signs pandemic preparedness plan with European Commission Ins & Outs: Biopharma players shuffle c-suite ranks American made: Companies continue to emphasize US manufacturing Transforming Protein Production: Lonza’s Comprehensive Solutions for Therapeutic Innovation Registered in England & Wales with number 01835199 Officials at Lonza say they will invest in additional bioconjugation capabilities in Visp The expansion will add two multipurpose 1,200L manufacturing suites and manufacturing-related infrastructure to the existing bioconjugation facility in Visp for launch and commercial supply The new capacity will generate approximately 200 new jobs and is expected to be operational from 2028 The new suites will occupy approximately 2,000m2 and double Lonza’s multipurpose capacity for the launch and commercial supply of bioconjugates The multi-customer suites are designed to run the processes needed to manufacture antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other bioconjugates maturing through the drug pipeline The additional bioconjugation suites are designed to support the growth of Lonza’s bioconjugation offering, spanning manufacturing for early phase clinical development, large-scale manufacture for launch and commercial supply, and will include drug product filling capability. This investment follows the recently announced customer-dedicated bioconjugation expansion in Visp “We continue to see strong growth in the bioconjugates space as ADCs and other bioconjugated drugs increasingly progress towards commercialization,” says Christian Morello “This investment in our multipurpose commercial bioconjugation capacity addresses the growing market demand enables us to support the growth of our customers and offers a flexible and integrated service for manufacturing bioconjugates.” As part of Lonza’s emission reduction strategy the manufacturing suites follow sustainability design standards for new builds that include energy-efficient water heating systems leading to a significant decrease in carbon footprint compared to traditional design solutions adding that technology for improved cytotoxic liquid waste management also will reduce waste by up to 90% Lonza reports that it has produced over 1,000 cGMP batches for more than 70 programs since 2006 Lonza offers customers a fully integrated solution spanning design and lead molecule generation including Synaffix conjugation technology and manufacturing at scales adapted to phase and customer strategy Copyright © 2025 Sage Publications or its affiliates including those for text and data mining and training of large language models By: Charlie Sternberg Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media How did the ViSP ViSP (Visual Servoing Platform) come into being we had a problem with what was known as disposable code developed by researchers and PhD students to control robots using vision This code was neither shared nor capitalised on,’ recalls Fabien Spindler one of the three main authors behind this platform which has been developed and distributed as free software for the past twenty years at the Inria Centre at the University of Rennes This is the first reason why we created this platform It is a modular library that brings together a solid base of algorithms for prototyping and implementing applications using image processing These technologies for tracking 2D or 3D objects and visual servoing use vision sensors to control the movements of a robotic system to detect and locate objects from images and 2D or 3D models Specialising in interactive robotics and sensor robots the Rainbow project team is working on solutions for locating a satellite in orbit (with Trasys) or a refuelling boom approaching an aircraft fuselage (with Airbus) It has also developed vision-based solutions to facilitate the robotic assembly of a door on a car chassis (with ABB Barcelona) or to spot and locate diseases and problems to be treated as a priority in cultivated fields (with Dilepix) Logically, the 50 or so members of Rainbow are the first to adopt ViSP: they use it to create prototype applications that work with the growing number of devices on the Robstar robotics platform: manipulator arms more than fifty doctoral students have used ViSP code to complete their theses in the IRISA research laboratory - shared by nine major institutions But now many other laboratories and companies are also adopting this open source platform. Their aim is to improve the way they control robotic systems.    Sharing this library written in C++ - a programming language that has the advantage of being close to machine language and therefore very efficient - as open source is a guarantee of quality the extensive community of users helps us to identify needs and areas for improvement so that we can regularly perfect the existing functions.  many innovations are made possible thanks to ViSP most often to drive robots used to manipulate rigid objects a doctoral student in the Inria project team is interested in robotic systems for manipulating flexible or deformable objects He has developed a technique that makes it possible to deform a foam using a robotic manipulator His research, carried out alongside two Rainbow researchers, has just been presented in one of the leading scientific journals on robotics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Among the possible applications of this type of algorithm we are already thinking of systems that would allow robots to remove fish fillets,’ he explains Another researcher in the team has been working on tools that could deform suspended cables such as SOFA (for physical modelling of rigid and deformable objects) and Pinocchio (for predictive control) they help researchers to use the images captured to model simulate and precisely locate robots and objects  To make these robots and objects interact even more effectively the researchers include control laws in their equations: ‘These tell the robot how it should change its trajectory to arrive at the expected position taking into account data already measured (the effect of a given action on a similar object etc.) and other parameters analysed in real time (the speed of the object there are still a number of challenges to be met One of the team's engineers is currently working on a new version of our 3D object location and tracking tool which is still rather frustrating at the moment’ This new version should help us to consider objects that are much more complex than at present such as aircraft or simply everyday objects Another challenge is to use the advantages of artificial intelligence which is increasingly present in the world of robotics ‘In the same way that artificial intelligence algorithms currently exist to detect faces we want to use AI to improve our ability to detect and locate objects in 3D from images to enable a robotic system to manipulate them more effectively’ This suggests that we may soon be seeing robots that are even more interactive and fully in tune with their environment Daniele Marghitola still has a lot of work to do for the 2025-26 season Among the things on his to-do list is finding a new head coach and deciding on his import players As the "Walliser Bote" reports, there are five head coaching candidates for EHC Visp at the moment, among them former Genève-Servette HC head coach Jan Cadieux and former HC Lugano head coach Luca Gianinazzi In other news, Sandro Forrer will likely not play in the next game against HC Sierre While the forward did not break his arm in the last game he suffered a severe contusion and will thus be likely out of the lineup By: Kristin Brooks The League Qualification series against HC Ajoie will be the last games in his career for the Canadian EHC Visp has announced that Garry Nunn will retire at the end of the season and will return to his hometown especially for the fact that I can still fight for promotion in my last season The championship title with Visp is an incredible highlight of my career I'll never forget these fans and this city," states the 35-year-old forward Nunn arrived in Switzerland for the 2019-20 season, when he signed for EHC Olten. After four years with the Mice, Nunn then joined EHC Visp which he helped win the Swiss League championship this season and with which he will try to earn the promotion to the National League before hanging up his skates The fourth-placed team of the regular season wins Game 5 of the playoff final series against EHC Basel 3-4 and thus wins the 2024-25 championship Basel started well into the game, leading by two powerplay goals (Cédric Aeschbach, Brett Supinski) until the 28th minute of play when EHC Visp found the back of the net thanks to Yannick Brüschweiler Sandro Forrer tied the game for the Valaisans The third period started again with a goal by EHC Basel, as Brett Supinski recorded another goal in the powerplay. However, EHC Visp answered with a goal by Jorden Gähler in the 47th minute of play and secured the title with a goal by Fadri Riatsch 3:44 minutes before the end of regulation CHEManager Spotlight is an exclusive event tailored for practitioners and decision-makers in the chemical industry This part of our event series delves into the latest trends and innovations in logistics to streamline your operations and drive efficiency Are you ready to elevate your pharmaceutical operations Download our exclusive whitepaper and discover how compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) is essential for the safety and integrity of pharmaceuticals The newly crowned champion of the Swiss League has yet to announce their new head coach this is supposed to change early next week dieBildmanufaktur.ch According to Klaus Zaugg ("Watson"), Luca Gianinazzi will be introduced as the new head coach of EHC Visp after the Easter holidays The "Walliser Bote" already reported a while ago that Gianinazzi was on Daniele Marghitola's list of candidates. The former head coach of HC Lugano had reportedly also been in the running for the head coach position of Switzerland's U20 team a role which eventually went to Jan Cadieux Yannick Brüschweiler has also signed a contract with EHC Visp This season, the 25-year-old forward will, however, suit up for Visp via B-license and can thus be recalled by HC Ambrì-Piotta at any given time Brüschweiler will then be under contract with Visp the 17-year-old Czech forward will receive the opportunity to play junior hockey in the Western Hockey League and suit up for the Seattle Thunderbirds Pekar is a product of HCAP's organization and appeares in 18 games for their U20 last season Most leading CDMOs are reporting revenue growth but according to the CEO of one of these companies near-term challenges include declining drug discovery activity GEN’s list of top 10 contract development and manufacturing organizations is led by Lonza which works across five continents and relies on a global community of around 18,000 colleagues to help pharma and nutrition companies bring their products to market facility oversee a bioconjugates production process The company does not indicate how much revenue from its Manufacturing Solutions segment reflects CDMO activity Foster also noted that most global biopharma companies have restructuring programs which are “likely precipitated by the Inflation Reduction Act or pending patent expirations or both.” Essentially companies are tightening their budgets and pruning their pipelines “Revenue for this client base continued to increase in the second quarter; however proposal activity and bookings began to notably decline and diverge from biotech clients during the second quarter,” Foster explained the second half revenue growth that we previously anticipated will not materialize demand is expected to continue to soften for global biopharmaceutical clients in the near term “We expect that these actions and the resulting softening of our demand key performance indicators will continue to cause a period of slower spending by large pharma companies on their early-stage drug development activities particularly because they are more focused on their clinical pipelines at this time This is a pretty unexpected and rapid deterioration of the large pharma companies’ business.” That downturn was not apparent last year as seven of the companies ranked among GEN’s top 10 CDMOs grew revenue (two saw declines; one stayed flat) The combined 2023 revenue of the top 10 CDMOs rose 7% from 2022 climbing from $28.22 billion to $30.237 billion a more optimistic forecast for CDMOs emerged July 29 from a survey by Jefferies of 25 biopharma clients of CDMOs The survey showed growing demand for emerging modalities (including peptides and cell and gene therapies) and identified two “headwinds” (or challenges to companies planning CDMO activity): raising financing and navigating regulatory delays The act is expected to drive more business to CDMOs outside China noted that Lonza “is a clear potential industry winner.” here is this year’s Top 10 A-List of CDMOs as disclosed by the companies in regulatory filings or in responses to GEN’s queries Several of the CDMOs also furnished quarterly or half-year revenues for 2024 • Finished H1 2024 with core earnings before interest and amortization of CHF 893 million ($1.028 billion) down 3% from CHF 922 million ($1.066 billion) on revenue of CHF 3.057 billion ($3.519 billion) down 0.7% from CHF 3.078 billion ($3.558 billion) in H1 2023 • Agreed in March to acquire Genentech’s large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville CA for $1.2 billion from Genentech’s parent • Finished Q2 2024 with net income of $1.553 billion on revenue that dipped 1.4% year over year • Completed $3.1 billion acquisition of Olink Holding in July Sweden-based Olink’s proteomics platform to the buyer’s offerings • Introduced the Gibco CTS OpTmizer One Serum-Free Medium which is designed to support cell therapy manufacturing • Awaiting completion of $16.5 billion acquisition by Novo Holdings the asset manager of the foundation that controls Novo Nordisk Novo Holdings will sell three Catalent fill-finish sites to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion upfront • Completed expansion of clinical supply facility in Schorndorf increasing the site’s footprint by 32,000 square feet • Disclosed July 2 that it signed a KRW 1.464 trillion ($1.068 billion) biologics CDMO contract with a U.S.-based pharma company • Ended Q2 with operating profit of KRW 329.2 billion ($240.1 million) on KRW 810.2 billion ($591 million) in revenues • Agreed with Seoul National University to offer top-performing undergraduates master’s scholarships and opportunities to work at the company • One of the Chinese biotech companies that will have its U.S activities restricted if the BIOSECURE Act becomes law multitarget strategic partnership with Medigene to design and co-research T-cell-receptor-guided T-Cell Engagers • Installed three sets of 5,000 L single-use bioreactors in the second drug substance line at its MFG20 drug substance manufacturing facility in Hangzhou • Appointed Marcel Imwinkelried as CEO effective September 1 • Completed the acquisition of an early-phase CDMO site in Grafton strengthening Siegfried’s capabilities and geographical coverage in drug substances • Sold to U.S.-based Blue Wolf Capital Partners seven sites (five sites in Sweden • Spun out former Advanced Delivery Systems Business Unit to form a new standalone company focused on drug-device combination products and drug delivery devices for pulmonary and nasal inhalation site (an early-stage laboratory in Research Triangle Park Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies/Fujifilm • Investing an additional $1.2 billion into a facility that is being built in Holly Springs adding eight 20,000 L mammalian cell culture bioreactors by 2028 to the eight 20,000 L bioreactors planned for the initial $2 billion project • Completing a DKK 11 billion ($1.609 billion) expansion of its facility in Hillerød making it the largest end-to-end CDMO in Europe and creating 450 new jobs citing decreased activity in its small-scale unit • Passed preapproval inspections by the FDA and EMA for its Oasis biopharma site in Shanghai in collaboration with an undisclosed customer and his team received an award from the American Chemical Society for green chemistry and engineering • Closed August 1 on its acquisition of Mirus Bio for approximately $600 million from Gamma Biosciences a life sciences platform established by global investment firm KKR The deal was intended to reinforce the buyer’s viral vector manufacturing capabilities • Finished the H1 2024 with €351 million ($383 million) down 4% from €366 million (about $400 million) a year earlier.5 • Offering SMCxPRO immunoassay technology to help detect low levels of a biomarker associated with cell dysfunction in patients This Thermo Fisher figure reflects the approximately 30% share of revenues generated by the Pharma Services business of Thermo Fisher’s Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment in 2022 the most recent year for which a figure was available according to a chart presented during the 2023 Investor Day Thermo Fisher offered no comment on projections made July 14 by analysts at Jefferies that CDMO activity will account for 8% of 2025 revenues and that bioprocessing activity will account for 9% of 2025 revenues The combined 17% would total $8.022 billion up 15% from the 2022 revenue figure reported here Jefferies projects that Thermo Fisher’s overall revenue will rise 7% in 2025 This Catalent figure reflects net revenue for the four most recent quarters for which the CDMO published results—the fourth quarter of FY 2023 (April–June 2023) and the first three quarters of FY 2024 (July 2023–March 2024) This Fujifilm Diosynth figure is the sum of Q1–Q4 fiscal year 2023 quarterly revenue figures for the “Bio CDMO” business within the Healthcare segment of Fujifilm Holdings whose subsidiaries include CDMO Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies Fujifilm operates on a fiscal year that runs from April 1 of the named FY to March 31 FY 2023 covers the 12 months starting April 1 This Boehringer Ingelheim figure reflects revenue for the BioXcellence division (biopharmaceutical contract production) furnished by the company within its annual reports This MilliporeSigma figure reflect parent company Merck KGaA’s Life Science Services business unit which includes CDMO and contract testing services Read our accompanying 8 Contract Development and Manufacturing Companies to Watch HC Ajoie only needs one more win to stay in the National League The team from Jura celebrated its third win in a row in the league qualifier against Swiss League champions Visp with a 3-0 victory Ajoie are now 3-1 up in the promotion/relegation play-off and can decide the outcome in front of a home crowd in Pruntrut on Thursday Having previously had to decide the winner three times in overtime the fourth duel between the notorious bottom team in the top division and the champions of the second-tier Swiss league was decided early for once for once none of the strong foreign players scored The latter recently played with Basel against Visp in the Swiss League play-off final who once again started with only two foreigners after Adam Brodecki was ruled out in Game 2 In the 12th minute (with the score at 0:1) had last played in a serious match in November - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Visp Palve and Stukel (both supernumerary foreigners) The extended agreement, Lonza said will expand the dedicated bioconjugation footprint for the customer through the construction of a new bioconjugation suite at the company’s Ibex Biopark in Visp Lonza will provide commercial-scale monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing services for a new ADC therapy ADCs are bioconjugates that usually combine a targeting antibody with a highly-potent payload using a linker molecule The new Visp bioconjugation suite will occupy approximately 800 m2 of manufacturing space and support the manufacture and containment of highly potent modalities which will generate approximately 100 new jobs already consists of an integrated supply of the highly potent payload and drug product filling for the ADC molecule targeting hard-to-treat cancers The collaboration has also been extended to include long-term manufacturing services for a new ADC targeting solid tumors Lonza will manufacture the mAb at its biologics facility in Porriño occupying a majority of the site’s manufacturing capacity The ADC will then be conjugated in the new dedicated large-scale bioconjugation suites in Visp vice president and head of Bioconjugates at Lonza commented: “The relationship with our valued partner has evolved over the years to incorporate all stages of bioconjugate manufacturing and commercialization Offering end-to-end ADC manufacturing services eliminates supply chain complexities and streamlines product delivery at scale.” added: “Bioconjugates represent an exciting modality poised for substantial growth in the coming years driven by market demand ProteiNext is an annual symposium that offers a platform for sharing insights on protein analysis CHEManager Innovation Pitch supports innovation in the chemistry and life sciences start-up scene and start-ups to present their companies to the industry The forward received his second game misconduct of the season which means he was automatically suspended On January 4, during the game between EHC Visp and EHC Chur the home team's Jacob Nilsson was issued a five-minute major plus a game misconduct for slashing As it was already his second misconduct of the season A clause in his contract with the Swiss League teams allows the netminder to join the National League Monika Majer / RvS.Media The SCL Tigers have announced the signing of Robin Meyer. Coming over from EHC Visp the goaltender has put his name under a two-year deal and will form Langnau's duo in net together with Luca Boltshause next season "The move to the National League is a great opportunity for Robin and we understand his understand his decision to take this step" Visp's team manager Daniele Marghitola states Meyer would still have had a year left on his contract but an out-clause permits him to leave early With Visp, the netminder has made 30 games so far this season, posting a .930 save percentage and allowing 1.93 goals against on average. Prior to Visp, Meyer was a member of EV Zug and the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers "Robin has had a successful year in the Swiss League so far and has been able to consistently earn important ice time" the Tigers' team manager Pascal Müller notes "Robin's strength lies in his positional play and he has a solid technical foundation he brings great potential to our organization." The 58-year-old will return to Denmark this summer after his contract with the Swiss League team is done This means that Visp is in need of a new head coach "We are looking for a suitable personality who shares our long-term strategy and values and who fits in well with our culture" "We will take the necessary time to find a sustainable solution." Visp is number six on Ehlers' list of Swiss employers as a coach the 20-year-old forward suffered a broken finger The newspaper did not disclose a timeline for Sander Jansen's return. The forward played his first professional games for EHC Visp this season Simon Wüest (knee) is still about a month away from his return the 23-year-old Swiss forward will suit up for the Valaisans After three and a half years in the USA, Dean Schwenninger is ready to return to Switzerland. A product of EV Zug's organization, Schwenninger will play for EHC Visp in the Swiss League the 23-year-old first suited up for the Minot Minotauros in the NAHL then for two and a half years for Stonehill College in the NCAA “Dean is a young and hungry player who joins us with energy and fresh drive he brings a dynamic style of play and a strong work ethic that will fit in perfectly with our team" states team manager Daniele Marghitola Schwenninger collected two assists in 16 games he scored 14 goals and recorded 33 assists in 75 NCAA games and a new forward all join the Swiss League champion With Heinz Ehlers returning to Denmark, EHC Visp has been looking for a new coach the "Walliser Bote" reported that Luca Gianinazzi was on their list of candidates - as it turns out The 32-year-old has signed a one-year deal Tamás Fodor is joining as conditioning coach Kevin Hecquefeuille sticks around as assistant Alexander Zalevsky as goalie-and video coach although Markkanen's contract includes an option for an additional one some are sticking around - Swede Adam Brodecki and Simon Wüest have signed one-year extensions it includes an option for an additional one The young netminder is reportedly returning to Switzerland to suit up for the recently-crowned Swiss League champion Thanks to making some steps on Swiss ice as a young boy, the Finn is in possession of a Swiss player's licence. Besides that, he spent some time on loan with HC Lugano during the 2021-22 season In addition, Zaugg suggests that if Visp were to win the league qualification series versus HC Ajoie and be promoted to the National League, they might acquire Sandro Zurkirchen. The 35-year-old is looking for a new home after playing for EHC Kloten the last few seasons the captain of the Swiss League team was injured in the 56th minute of play HC Ajoie's Matteo Romanenghi fell and collided with Daniel Eigenmann who was unable to continute to play afterwards and had to be helped off the ice It remains to be seen whether the captain will make his comeback on Thursday. EHC Visp won last night's game against HC Ajoie 3-2 in the third overtime The Swiss League team has presented a deficit of CHF 130'000.- to their shareholders at the general meeting the club also announced the departures of the members of their Board of Directors: Berno Stoffel and Gilles Florey have decided to step down for personal and professional reasons respectively The club is currently in talks with potential successors and is aiming for the end of the year to complete the board the Swiss League team might acquire another forward for their current roster they will definitely add an import player before the playoffs Emilius Krakauskas was offered to stay with EHC Visp for the remainder of the season, but the 27-year-old forward eventually decided to sign with EHC Chur. Daniele Marghitola, team manager of EHC Visp might thus replace him with another forward In other news, EHC Visp will supposedly announce the signing of a defenseman who will join the team for the 2025-26 season On another note, Stefan Mäder has announced his retirement. "I will be 35 in August, it is the right time", the forward is cited. "Now I am really looking forward to the playoffs against HC Sierre He currently stands at 796 games in the Swiss League (and 15 in the National League) his wife is expecting their first child in spring As anticipated by "Expressen", the 29-year-old Swedish forward has indeed agreed to terms with EHC Visp until the end of the season The Swiss League team has been looking for a replacement for Garry Nunn who is out of the lineup due to injury. They have now found it in Adam Brodecki. As long as all administrative formalities have been cleared up, he will be eligible to play for EHC Visp in the home game against EHC Basel on December 19 Brodecki started the season with HPK in the Finnish Liiga recording six goals and four assists in 22 games He also played in the SHL and the Extraliga throughout his career the two forwards have recovered from their injury and returned to game action In yesterday's friendly game against Freiburg, EHC Visp could count on Garry Nunn and Sandro Forrer again who had recently resumed practicing with the rest of the team they had to make do without the banged-up Oliver Heinen and Dario Burgener Lonza has developed a new biomanufacturing complex at its biopark in Visp the biomanufacturing complex features five new state-of-the-art manufacturing complexes to house the company’s Ibex™ Solutions The project was announced in June 2017 and initially included the construction of a biomanufacturing complex to house Ibex Solutions’ operations Lonza invested CHF400m ($414.6m) to develop additional manufacturing complexes and the launch of Ibex Solutions offerings The complex’s construction was completed in 2020 The facility allows Lonza’s customers to scale up or scale out to different sites within the company’s network in the US The Ibex biomanufacturing complex is developed on a 100,000m² brownfield surface within Lonza’s Visp site The complex offers modular biomanufacturing concepts to allow biopharma companies to manage product phases such as drug substance development and manufacturing It features a technology-independent and highly flexible construction for various modes of engagement The biomanufacturing complex also utilises the GS Gene Expression System® a proprietary platform technology that offers fast development of mammalian cell lines with a high yield the first building of the biomanufacturing complex involved installing 17,000m² of facades Lonza’s Ibex Solutions include Ibex Dedicate Ibex Dedicate is an innovative customised supply solution that accelerates the development process before the product enters the market The solution manages investment-associated risks and investment decisions Its flexible operating models provide customised solutions for the production of mammalian and microbial vaccines Ibex Design and Ibex Develop enable seamless operation at all stages of product development Ibex Design offers fixed-price product packaging and fast delivery options for preclinical and Phase I stages of drug development as well as reserving a manufacturing slot for clinical resupply Ibex Develop was designed for late-stage clinical trials requiring biologics licence application approval and marketing The solution lets companies build capacity in a short period of time to meet growing demand It also eliminates the need for technology transfer and allows process optimisations while improving operational efficiency The Ibex Solutions use single-use bioreactors and advanced automation technologies to enhance efficiency construction company Felix Constructions received a contract for the development of the first building’s facade Switzerland-based Burckhardt+Partner acted as the architect and general planner for the construction The Visp site is Lonza’s largest site and hosts the majority of its manufacturing and research and development (R&D) operations Lonza manufactures a range of products for the pharmaceutical electronics and aerospace industries at the site Lonza is also developing a biologics manufacturing facility at Visp in a joint venture with Sanofi Construction on the project began in September 2017 with an estimated investment of CHF$290m ($302.5m) Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network HC Ajoie gets off to a false start in the league qualifiers against Swiss League champions Visp The team from Jura lost its first home game at the witching hour 2:3 after overtime the 31-year-old Swedish forward from EHC Visp decided the game after 100:53 minutes at the start of the third overtime shortly after midnight Only six playoff games in Switzerland have lasted longer Nilsson had already scored the 2:1 for Visp It was the fourth time since February that Nilsson had scored two goals in one game Swiss League champions Visp deserved their victory: the Valais team had more shots on goal than Ajoie in all overtime periods Visp had already led twice in regulation time Anttoni Honka after just 39 seconds in the final period and Reto Schmutz in the 55th minute equalized for Ajoie the last time Ajoie had to contest the promotion/relegation play-off - then against La Chaux-de-Fonds - the team from the Jura lost their first home game they came back from 2-0 down to win the series 4-2 - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Ajoie - PostFinance top scorers: Devos; Brodecki Hazen and Stukel (both overage foreigners) Lonza completed the expansion of its bioconjugation facility at its Visp site in Switzerland in February 2023 a pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland announced the expansion of its bioconjugation facility in Visp The project was completed in February 2023 The expansion improved the facility’s bioconjugation capabilities by adding development and production capacity for pre-clinical to commercial scale supply and helped in meeting the increased demand for bioconjugates The project complemented Lonza’s recent investments at the Visp site to expand manufacturing capabilities in mammalian capacity payload-linker and antibody drug-conjugates (ADCs) The expansion also helped in increasing the process and quality control capacity of the Visp site to enable Lonza to provide tailored solutions to customers The bioconjugation facility was expanded with the addition of 1,500m² manufacturing space which added approximately 30% capacity to the facility for clinical and commercial supply The extended manufacturing space is equipped with two bioconjugation manufacturing suites with the required infrastructure related to manufacturing Suites were constructed within a pre-existing shell and benefited from the existing quality control (QC) laboratories The highly flexible system utilises single-use and hybrid concepts for bioconjugation operations The high throughput bioconjugation suites are capable of managing highly potent substances for cancer drugs The two new suites provide high-performance conjugation for the commercialisation of ADCs in Lonza’s Ibex® Dedicate model The expansion also involved the addition of a 5,000m² support building and other related infrastructure space for an optimised workflow The laboratory space in the facility was also extended doubling the analytical and process development capacity Visp is the largest and one of the most important sites for research and development (R&D) and manufacturing It houses advanced facilities specialising in the development and production of pharmaceutical products The facility’s biconjugation services can support projects from early phase to late stage and commercial programmes apart from offering drug substance and drug product manufacturing in small molecules and biologics Visp also accommodates Lonza’s pioneering services, Ibex™ Solutions Ibex provides end-to-end biopharmaceutical solutions including preclinical to commercial processes and drug substance to the drug product Lonza also opened a manufacturing suite for ADC payload manufacturing at the Visp site in November 2020 The opening of the first manufacturing suite at the Visp site is dedicated to manufacturing ADC drug-linker It complements the full-service capability for highly active product ingredients (HAPI) from a bench-scale through a 10m³ scale The biconjugate and ADC manufacturing services offered at the site include early de-risking and optimisation The Visp site offers customised development current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) clinical and commercial manufacturing services for APIs and their intermediates The microbial site in Visp houses a range of multi-product cGMP manufacturing and development suites for microbial-derived biotherapeutics production Its location also operates as the centre of excellence for developing and manufacturing highly potent API (HPAPI) comprising facilities for small-scale to commercial-scale production and high containment trains Lonza’s microbial centre of excellence supports services for several types of molecules including emerging molecular formats such as antibody fragments The cGMP site accommodates cell banking, production, fermentation, purification The site also processes development labs and manufacturing assets The facility offers a complete end-to-end solution that simplifies the value chain and accelerates the market for ADCs and bioconjugates manufacturing Visp functions within a global quality management system that complies with internal guidelines and national and international standards and regulations The Swiss League team adds a defenseman and a forward. Vincent Despont leaves EHC Visp and joins EHC Chur HC Ambrì-Piotta's Simone Terraneo will join the team effective immediately. The 20-year-old defenseman will stay with the team until further notice. Genève-Servette HC has loaned Simas Ignatavicius The forward will - for now - play for the team next week While the Lithuanian will use one of the import player licenses Visp is still looking for a replacement for Garry Nunn As for Vincent Despont, he has decided to leave Visp effective immediately. He will suit up for EHC Chur from here on out Despont appeared in 21 games for the Swiss League team this season but is looking to gain more ice time In other news, Jorden Gähler has been injured in the game against EHC Chur Gähler will have to undergo further medical exams to determine the nature of his injury and the length of his absence Jorden Gähler and Daniel Eigenmann will stay with the Swiss League team beyond this season Jorden Gähler has been with EHC Visp for three seasons and has decided to sign a deal that will keep him in Valais for another three years The 31-year-old defenseman has appeared in 27 games for Visp this season Daniel Eigenmann, for his part, has agreed to a two-year contract, thus staying with EHC Visp until the end of the 2026-27 season The captain of the Swiss League team has put up four goals and 16 assists in 32 games Facing financial pressure and unavoidable budget cuts Pennsylvania State University is offering its employees voluntary buyouts at its Commonwealth Campuses through May 31 The Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VISP) financially incentivizes eligible faculty and staff to retire early or leave their jobs and still receive one year of their base salary and six months of subsidized health insurance “With the challenges facing all of higher education our entire institution needs to evolve in order to continue serving the residents of Pennsylvania,” Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said in a statement “We are currently working to identify every opportunity to strengthen our Commonwealth Campuses and achieve our budgetary objectives.” Staff who are eligible for this program include those currently tenured or in line for tenure academic administrators and staff who are considered full-time and not on fixed-term contracts Employees also must have been hired before April 1 those who participate in VISP will be prohibited from being employed by the university by any means for 36 calendar months from the date of separation “This VISP is just one tool of many we are employing to invest in the future of the University and in our employees for the long term,” wrote Margo DelliCarpini More from UB: These features make 64 campuses the prettiest in the nation and we encourage employees to consult with their support network a financial consultant and their personal attorney about participating in the program,” Vice President for Human Resources Jennifer Wilkes said in a statement “Individuals need to review the opportunities before them and determine if volunteering for the program is right for them.” By fiscal year 2025-26, the university wishes to have a balanced budget. Whether or not the program will be successful, however, is unclear. According to the university’s website it employs just over 3,200 folks at its Commonwealth Campuses Earlier this year, Bendapudi laid out a roadmap for the university’s future Included in that roadmap is a transparent list of the university’s financial challenges it must address in order to achieve a balanced budget by FY 2025-26 “The need for change within our University is undeniable and must occur for Penn State to retain its status as a leading institution to innovate and to invest in greatness at scale in education and research,” Bendapudi said in January “Our ability to respond to the multitude of challenges and our capacity to adapt is what will determine our success now and in the future.” We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Click to view our cookie policy We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns A medical collateral ligament tear is keeping the forward from playing at the moment He is joined in the infirmary by lightly concussed netminder Alessio Beglieri Depending on how the MCL tear will be treated, Simon Wüest will return earlier or later. A conservative treatment would result in six weeks of absence, if surgery is required, the forward would done for the season, as the "Walliser Bote" writes. Either way, he is going to be out of EHC Visp's lineup for at least a little bit the backup netminder missed last night's game due to a light concussion The 22-year-old forward has been out of contention since mid-September Vincent Ryser has recovered faster from his injury than anticipated and will make his comeback in tonight's game against EHC Chur Ryser, who has been loaned to EHC Visp from SC Bern has appeared in three games for the Swiss League team The 23-year-old defenseman has been loaned to the Swiss League team effective immediately and will thus be available to EHC Visp for Tuesday's game Robert Hradil / RvS.Media Rocco Pezzullo is a product of HC Ambrì-Piotta's organization and has only been under contract with them The defender will suit up for Visp via B-license and can be recalled by HCAP at any given time The defenseman appeared in 20 games for the Biancoblù this season he has been on the ice for 13:24 minutes per game