NCBiotech News

Eastern North Carolina's biomanufacturing sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, with the region capturing the lion's share of statewide life sciences investment in 2024 while expanding innovative training programs to meet surging workforce demands.

Phytoform Labs, a U.K.-based plant biotechnology innovator solving food supply challenges with genetic solutions, will be the first startup outside of North Carolina State University’s research community to utilize the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s Seed2Grow agricultural technology incubator.

An Israeli pharmaceutical company with U.S. headquarters in Raleigh says it’s on track to seek regulatory approval for potentially lucrative new uses of its variation on a common gastrointestinal drug.

LabConnect, a central laboratory solutions company, has opened a new corporate headquarters in Durham. The new Durham office is located in a multi-tenant office building at 5425 Page Road, near the Highway 54 intersection.

Milestone Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company with a U.S. subsidiary in Charlotte, is starting the new year with its first approved drug. The company received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that its first commercial product for a heart rhythm disorder had been approved for sale.

Johnson & Johnson, having already announced several manufacturing investments in North Carolina, has announced another one: a new drug product manufacturing facility in Wilson, to add as many as 500 people making medicines for oncology and neurological diseases.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded Morrisville-based Locus Biosciences $3.3 million, part of a contract that could total up to $28 million if all project milestones are met.

Boston-based Aktis Oncology has filed to go public in the U.S., according to multiple news reports. The company has operations in Durham.

Site Selection magazine has named North Carolina tops in the U.S. for workforce development. “If you’re ready to graduate your company’s operations to the next level on a foundation of skills and talent, North Carolina is a good place to enroll,” the magazine wrote.

Novo Nordisk has launched its new Wegovy pill, the first GLP-1 pill approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to treat obesity.

James B. Hunt Jr., a populist four-term governor who championed biotechnology as a new economic engine for North Carolina and led the creation of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, died Dec. 18. He was 88.

Meiogenix, a biotechnology company harnessing targeted recombination for precision plant breeding, has relocated its U.S. headquarters to Research Triangle Park from Ithaca, New York.

Bantam Pharmaceutical, a clinical-stage company pioneering mitochondrial biology to develop first-in-class medicines for treating aggressive cancers, announced that the first patient was treated at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, in its Phase 1 clinical trial studying BTM-3566.

Innovative approaches to making clinical studies more efficient and cost-effective were a central theme of the 2nd Annual COG: CRO Summit, held in early December in Durham, N.C. The event convened leaders from clinical research organizations (CROs) and functional service providers for two days of networking and open discussion on the future of the industry.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein joined state and local officials and life sciences partners to help Novartis break ground on its plans to expand its pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the Research Triangle.