NCBiotech News

Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) celebrated the opening this month of a facility that will prepare students for highly skilled jobs in biotechnology manufacturing. The newly renovated Biotechnology Building is part of the E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center on CCCC’s Lee Main Campus in Sanford.

The average research and development costs of launching a new drug vary widely, a 2021 National Institutes of Health analysis found, but remain very expensive, “…ranging from $161 million to $4.54 billion (2019 US$). Therapeutic area-specific estimates were highest for anticancer drugs (between $944 million and $4.54 billion).”

CorestemChemon, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in South Korea, has begun U.S. operations based in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. The company’s U.S. subsidiary, CorestemChemon US Inc., currently has two executive-level employees based in Winston-Salem, with plans to grow the team as its regulatory and clinical programs in the U.S. advance.

Inventors in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region and beyond will soon have access to a new local office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The federal agency announced it will establish a community engagement office at North Carolina State University in Raleigh to serve the intellectual property (IP) protection needs of inventors, entrepreneurs, small businesses and other stakeholders in the Triangle area and elsewhere in North Carolina.

This summer’s soaring temperatures, raging wildfires, record-setting droughts and major flooding have affected millions of people around the world, demonstrating the devastating effects of climate change. For farmers, extreme climate conditions are driving lower crop yields and less nutrient-dense products. Meanwhile, costs are increasing for vital inputs such as fertilizer and fuel.

Raleigh-based Slate Medicines, a new company developing therapeutics to prevent migraine headaches, is planning to become a publicly traded company through a reverse merger with another biotech company that is already listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

AM Technical Solutions — a global architecture, engineering, construction and commissioning firm for high-tech markets headquartered in Austin, Texas — has acquired engineering consulting firm Sequence Inc., which is based in Research Triangle Park.

In this guest column for NCBiotech, Penny Gordon-Larsen asserts that North Carolina must develop a clear strategy for a data-intensive future, ensuring access to the computing and quantum capabilities needed to fully leverage research assets, talent, and partnerships.

STERIS plc, a global provider of products and services that support patient care with an emphasis on infection prevention, plans to invest $600 million to build a new facility in Sanford, creating 335 jobs in manufacturing, R&D, distribution and operations.

Durham-based SelSym Biotech, a biomedical company with roots at North Carolina State University, has secured an equity investor and partner to help it develop a novel therapy to control emergency bleeding.

Durham-based Humacyte, a regenerative medicine company, will soon begin a first-in-human clinical study of its bioengineered blood vessel in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted the company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the Phase 2a study.

Durham-based Atsena Therapeutics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on using genetic medicine to reverse or prevent blindness, has dosed the first patient in the Phase 3 pivotal cohort of the LIGHTHOUSE trial evaluating its ATSN-201 gene therapy for the treatment of X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS).

Kymanox has opened a new Formulation Lab to provide formulation development and analytical testing services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies moving programs from early research into clinical manufacturing.

Caidya, a global clinical research organization based in Raleigh, has announced it is combining with UK-based CRO Simbec-Orion to create a new platform to accelerate drug development programs and international scale-up. The combined company will operate under the Caidya name, the announcement said.

Durham-based 410 Medical, a medical device company developing new technologies for emergency and critical care, has raised $12 million from investors, including two North Carolina venture capital firms.