Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO): 4-24-18/in-PharmaTechnologist article qu...

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Wednesday, 04/25/2018 8:10:34 AM

Wednesday, April 25, 2018 8:10:34 AM

4-24-18/in-PharmaTechnologist article quotes Roger Lias
"Avid Plans Expansion With Focus On Biologics Development"
* There is no slowdown in sight, says Avid Bioservices CEO, as the company today announces further expansion to support new client projects and optimize its novel CHO-based expression system.
By Melissa Fassbender, in-Pharma Technologist.com
https://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Article/2018/04/24/Avid-plans-expansion-with-focus-on-biologics-development
"Roger Lias, CEO of Avid Bioservices said the company has seen a “tremendous surge” in interest since formally transitioning to a full-service, dedicated CDMO earlier this year. The company in February raised more than $20M to grow its contract mfg. business. Today, Avid announced [4-24-18: http://ir.avidbio.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1064742 ] that it is expanding its Orange County, CA-based process development laboratory space to more than 6,000sf. Conducting work in phases to avoid disruption, the first new laboratories are expected to be operational during Q3 of CY2018 [July-Sept’18].

Lias said: “Our announced expansion is driven by strong in interest in our process development & clinical stage services, but we are also in the unusual position of having multiple single use 2,000L bioreactors available in our state-of-art Myford facility.” This, “at a time when many competitors are starting expansion projects that will not yield available capacity until 2019 and beyond,” he added. In addition to upgrading its existing infrastructure, Avid is also installing new equipment to support client mfg. demand from clinical development to commercial production. The expansion will also support technology transfer and on-boarding of later stage mfg. projects, Lias said. “The final phase of the program will be the relocation of our pilot facilities into remodeled space within the company’s legacy Franklin mfg. facility,” he added.

NO SLOWDOWN IN SIGHT
Focusing on the development & manufacturing of biologics derived from mammalian cell culture, Lias said the company sees “no slowdown in broad demand for this class of products.”
Later this year, Lias said the company will be able to share addl. information about a novel CHO-based [Chinese Hamster Ovary] mammalian expression system that is being developed in-house. [Could this be Avid’s 2017 announced “ANTIBODY DISCOVERY PLATFORM”?? See below]
”Monoclonal antibodies and derivatives such as multi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates remain hot areas, but we also see strong demand for complex recombinant proteins such as fusion proteins & enzymes based on our long track record with these highly glycosylated and complicated products,” he added.

The company recently signed new agreements with 3 intl. drug development companies for which Avid has commenced work. “The drug candidates involved in these agreements are being developed for application in certain cell therapy, respiratory and oncology indications,” said Lias.
With the recent agreements, the company has on-boarded 4 new client projects this year to date, compared to the same number in 2017.
*end*
4-24-18/PR: Avid adding Process Dev. Labs, upgrading capabilities (in phases; total will be >6000sq; 1st one ready Q3/CY’18(July-Sept'18). ”In recent weeks, Avid has signed new agreements with 3 addl. undisclosed intl. drug dev. companies (that’s 4 thus far in CY2018)”
http://ir.avidbio.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1064742
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10K 4-30-17 iss. 7-14-17 http://tinyurl.com/ycxu4l5n
Pg.5: Antibody Discovery Technology
Recently, our scientists have developed an antibody discovery and characterization platform through which we can generate antibodies against virtually any target. These capabilities are state-of-the-art and meant for rapid screening for high affinity antibodies as drug candidates. These capabilities are a natural extension of the services we already offer through Avid and it may represent a way to bring in customers at a much earlier stage of development with the potential to move them quickly into process development and cGMP manufacturing. Continuing to diversify our customer base is one of our key initiatives at Avid and we believe the antibody discovery capabilities will help attract new customers. The antibody discovery capabilities can also be used in our R&D business to rapidly identify antibodies against known targets as well as to identify novel targets. The antibody discovery platform is now fully functional and we are in the process of evaluating the technology through identifying several known targets and thus far, the results have looked promising. Once this process is completed, the technology platform will be marketed to potential customers as part of our CDMO service offerings.
...Pg6: FY'18 Objectives: Complete the evaluation process for the Antibody Discovery Platform and begin offering as a CDMO service through Avid Bioservices.
ALSO:
8-9-17/PR: PPHM commenced a restructuring plan… reduces workforce by 60(20%), reduced R&D from 22 to 11. http://tinyurl.com/ycrxq5tc
"As part of the cost saving initiatives, the Company reduced Peregrine's R&D personnel by 50% to 11 employees, with the remaining staff supporting potential strategic alternatives for its R&D assets while continuing to assist with collaborative trials, the antibody discovery platform, and the exosome program".