NCBiotech News

Durham-based Alcami Corp., a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with a growing presence in North Carolina, has expanded the capabilities of its new pharmaceutical-storage facility in Garner and expects to add 95 positions to its workforce in the state.

North Carolina has emerged as one of the most significant ag tech hubs in the United States and the world. Consequently, we are gaining the attention of scientists, entrepreneurs and investors from around the globe. So how did this happen and what is the secret? Amidst various contributing factors, two elements stand out as distinctly unique: our location and people. 

You’d be hard-pressed to find any corporate leaders as passionate about their companies’ mission and products as Nicole Bell, the former chief business officer of Galaxy Diagnostics who became its CEO in June.

Bell ascended to the helm of the Morrisville bioscience company co-founded by her predecessor, Amanda Elam, Ph.D., with an unambiguous vision born from personal tragedy and a determination to expand on Galaxy’s successes inherited from Elam, who remains a company advisor and board member.

Two companies in the drug-development industry, each with operations in Durham, have merged, forming a larger and more integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) to serve the topical and transdermal pharmaceuticals sector.

It’s an exciting time in North Carolina as we witness the steady influx of life sciences companies and see the nearing completion of expansive high-tech manufacturing facilities. These developments mark a pivotal moment in our state's growth and innovation.

Summer’s sweltering heat makes autumn seem far away, but at CSL Seqirus in Holly Springs, N.C., it signals shipping time for the company’s portfolio of 2024-2025 seasonal influenza vaccines. On July 9, the company began shipping its vaccines to healthcare providers across the U.S. before fall’s annual flu vaccination campaigns. 

The Holly Springs site has been hard at work manufacturing influenza vaccines for this season since the World Health Organization announced the recommended influenza vaccine composition for the northern hemisphere on Feb. 23.

Nipro Medical Corp., a medical equipment company based in Osaka, Japan, plans to invest $397.8 million to develop a new manufacturing facility and create more than 232 jobs in Greenville, N.C., one of Pitt County’s growing cities.

The state and the company announced the news at an event in Greenville on Wednesday, after the N.C. Department of Commerce's Economic Investment Committee (EIC) approved incentives for the project. Pitt County officials passed incentives last month.

A Morrisville-based biopharmaceutical company has received special regulatory status for a potential new treatment for acute pancreatitis.

Cambrex, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with operations in High Point and Durham, has announced that its stability storage business known as Q1 Scientific will open a new state-of-the-art facility in Durham later this year. Q1 offers environmentally controlled stability storage services to the pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences industries. 

A Swedish cancer diagnostics developer is reinventing itself and transplanting its North American headquarters from the Boston area to North Carolina’s booming Research Triangle area to become more efficient and effective.

A California medical technology startup plans to expand the Research Triangle Park facility it bought in 2022, adding 50 jobs and spending up to $65 million on the project.

Science Corp. in Alameda, Calif., is developing brain-computer interface devices such as a visual prosthesis for degenerative retinal diseases. The devices will be manufactured by the company’s Science Foundry division, using its MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) foundry at Alexander Drive and Cornwallis Road.

Verona Pharma announced it has received FDA approval for Ohtuvayre (Ensifentrine), a maintenance treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adult patients. It is the first inhaled product available for the disease and is delivered directly to the lungs through a standard jet nebulizer.

Science, innovation and entrepreneurship are the key ingredients in bringing forward new medical therapies and treatment options for patients. But these will never successfully come together at the right time and in the right quantities if they are not mixed in an environment where they can flourish.

For 40 years, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center has been that environment. The discoveries by our life sciences companies, universities, medical centers and research organizations would be less available to meet human needs if not for the vital role NCBiotech plays.

TruLab, a provider of technology for overseeing drug clinical trials, has relocated to new offices in Research Triangle Park (RTP) to support its rapid growth and development.

The company has signed a two-year lease for 10,000 square feet of space in Frontier RTP, the research park’s coworking and office campus.

Claradele Pharmaceuticals, a Greenville startup developing a unique immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma, is the 2024 NCBiotech Venture Challenge winner. 

The Claradele selection marked the pinnacle of a months-long grooming process for North Carolina’s freshest life sciences startups. It was the culmination of the statewide Venture Pitch Showcase at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, announced Thursday evening at the sold-out Triad BioNight, also at the Grandover.