Rick Mullin

Jan 19, 2024 | cen.acs.org | Rick Mullin

Grassroots organizations in communities affected by industry say they are going into 2024 with an increased sense of momentum in their efforts to hold companies and government agencies accountable. The environmental justice movement awakened in the US after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the powerful response by Black Lives Matter. Since then, legislation from the Joe Biden administration has trained a spotlight on communities near industrial sites.

Jan 19, 2024 | cen.acs.org | Rick Mullin

After a year that began with a flourish of generative artificial intelligence and ended with the first government regulations on developing such systems, 2024 will see an unimpeded advance in the technology in drug and materials research. Experts agree that the year ahead will feature the rapid deployment of advanced generative AI architectures called iagent systems.

Dec 17, 2023 | cen.acs.org | Rick Mullin

By Seqens, a contract development and manufacturing organization based in Écully, France, has added cell and gene therapy manufacturing to its pharmaceutical services with the acquisition of Novartis's cell therapy business. CellforCure, located in Les Ulis, near Paris, was launched in 2013 by LBF (Laboratoire français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies) and acquired by Novartis in 2019. Novartis purchased the site to expand its capacity for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies.

Dec 2, 2023 | cen.acs.org | Rick Mullin

Novo Nordisk will invest $2.3 billion to expand manufacturing at its plant in Chartres, France. The project includes finished-drug production for products based on a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, semaglutide, the active ingredient in two of its blockbusters. Last month, the company announced a $6 billion expansion at its plant in Kalundborg, Denmark, which makes GLP-1 products. Novo Nordisk has been straining to keep up with demand for semaglutide.

Dec 2, 2023 | cen.acs.org | Rick Mullin

By Thermo Fisher Scientific and Flagship Pioneering are forming a partnership to create companies that make biotechnology tools. The partnership will match Flagship's venture formation expertise and Thermo Fisher's background in developing technologies for life sciences research.