NCBiotech News

Raleigh sustainable food startup Atlantic Fish Co has developed and tested a cultivated black sea bass prototype, the company’s latest milestone in the production of sustainable seafood made from harvested fish cells.

In an announcement this week with the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab (NCFIL) in Kannapolis, Atlantic Fish said development of the sea bass represents a breakthrough in cellular agriculture. The company produces seafood by harvesting fish cells, feeding them nutrients and giving them a structure to grow on.

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), plans to invest $1.2 billion to double the size of its manufacturing facility currently under construction in Holly Springs.

When completed, the site will be the largest end-to-end cell culture CDMO facility in North America, housing state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical manufacturing equipment and technology, including two large manufacturing suites for large-scale monoclonal antibody drug substance and drug product manufacturing. 

Gene therapy legend R. Jude Samulski, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) since the company was established in 2001, is leaving the CSO job but remaining on the company board.

AskBio announced that Mansuo Shannon, Ph.D., becomes CSO effective today. Shannon joins AskBio from Prevail Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, where she also served as CSO.

Milestone Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company with a U.S. subsidiary in Charlotte, is back on track with a potential drug to treat rapid heart rates in certain cardiovascular disorders.

The company in late March re-submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval of etripamil for the management of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), a type of arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm. 

Over the past four decades, the life sciences industry in North Carolina has experienced an evolution, transforming the state into a global hub for innovation, research, and development. Fostering collaboration among academia, government, and industry, North Carolina's journey in the life sciences sector has led directly to discoveries improving patient’s lives right now.

Winston-Salem-based Charter Medical has opened its new Innovation Hub in downtown Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter.

Turning ideas into impactful solutions can be a hit-or-miss proposition. To get more agricultural technology hits, the new North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) Startup Program helps researchers, alumni and others translate their ideas and discoveries into viable products and services that benefit agriculture.

Biotalys, a Belgian agricultural technology company with a small U.S. subsidiary in Raleigh, has formed a collaboration with Novonesis (formerly Novozymes) to commercialize a biofungicide for fruit and vegetable crops worldwide.

Regional finalists announced

The life sciences version of March Madness 2024 has just tipped off across North Carolina.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, launched the biannual, statewide NCBiotech Venture Challenge for 2024, following the success of the initiative in 2020 and 2022.

SCHOTT Pharma USA, Inc., part of SHOTT Pharma AG, a global specialty glass manufacturer based in Germany, plans to invest $371 million over the next five years to build a new production facility in Wilson that would create 401 jobs and produce glass pre-fillable syringes and cartridges for biopharma companies.

Funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T) will lead a team of university, N.C. Cooperative Extension, business and research partners in developing a plan to share information and technology faster and more broadly across the state by building an “ag tech corridor” from central North Carolina to the east. 

It’s an exciting time at Durham-based Deep Blue Medical Advances as the start-up builds on the success of its T-Line Hernia Mesh, a surgical product that helps prevent the recurrence of hernias after abdominal hernia repair surgery. 

Over the next two years, the company plans to launch several new products that will offer more options for soft tissue surgeries and extend the T-Line technology to other clinical areas such as breast reconstruction. 

As so many various state business rankings reflect, North Carolina continues to move from strength to strength as it relates to offering the commitment to education, a talented workforce and the quality of life that is critical to attracting either start-up businesses or those looking to expand.  

Fortrea, a global contract research organization (CRO) that was spun off of Burlington-based Labcorp in 2023, will divest two of its businesses to focus more on supporting clinical drug development in phases 1 through 4.

Two animal health and nutrition companies that have partnered on product development for close to 16 years are now working in the same barn, so to speak.