NCBiotech News

Earlier this year, entrepreneur and women’s health advocate Sheila Mikhail received the Triangle Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the life sciences and women’s breast cancer detection. 

Syngenta Crop Protection, part of the global agricultural giant Syngenta Group, has completed a $140 million expansion of its North American headquarters in Greensboro.

The company dedicated the revamped facilities on Oct. 30 by hosting government and industry guests at its 70-acre campus on Swing Road, near I-40. More than 700 employees work there, earning an average salary of $110,000.

A new temperature-controlled logistics facility planned for Wilmington is designed to speed safe delivery of life sciences products between the United States and Europe. In an announcement Wednesday at Wilmington International Airport, Frontier Scientific Solutions said it would build the global logistics center for time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products, along with a companion facility in Ireland.

Gilero, a medical device manufacturer with two sites in North Carolina, is expanding to a third site in the state -- a new 60,500-square-foot manufacturing facility in Greensboro that is expected to create 37 jobs.

The company will invest $6.4 million to outfit a facility it has leased at 486 Gallimore Dairy Road on the west side of the city, near Interstate 40 just south of Piedmont Triad International Airport.

David Reeser is one of the millions of Americans whose life has been changed by the ever-evolving, fast-growing epidemic of addiction. But his journey has taken him on an unusual road from challenge to opportunity.

It started “old school.”

“My father was a cigarette smoker. He smoked constantly,” said Reeser, a Pennsylvania native. “He died of lung cancer when I was 16. Before he passed away my mother started drinking heavily. I watched substance abuse almost ruin my family. Fortunately, Mom’s doing great now.” 

Charles E. Hamner, Jr., Ph.D., a former president and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and a longtime advocate for life sciences in the state, has received the 2024 High Flyer Champion of Innovation from the First Flight Venture Center.

Hamner received the award at First Flight’s annual High Flyer Awards Luncheon on Friday, Nov. 1, at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. The annual event brings together entrepreneurs, industry leaders and innovators to honor excellence in the North Carolina ecosystem.

The Triangle is known as a hotbed for innovation, thanks in large part to the partnerships between multiple stakeholders, including universities, investors and ecosystem support organizations.

In that spirit, last month’s Triangle Venture Day set the scene for investors from across the nation to learn about the latest promising innovations, specifically in medical technology.

Research Triangle Park-based Opus Genetics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company devoted to treating inherited retinal diseases, has been acquired by a small ophthalmic biopharmaceutical firm with Durham operations, becoming North Carolina’s newest publicly traded life sciences company.

Jude Samulski calls genome editing “the next wave of technology to feed the world.”

Ad Astra Diagnostics (AAD) of Morrisville has been awarded a $5 million federal contract for the development of an improved diagnostic system to deliver faster complete blood count (CBC) test results and the earlier detection of severe infection, including sepsis.

The contract, awarded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), has the potential to reach $12.6 million, the company announced in a news release.

Contract development and manufacturing organization SmaBio Labs recently celebrated the official opening of its new home in RTP. The 9,000-square-foot facility expands the company’s ability to support every stage of drug development -- from discovery to commercialization. It was also designed to streamline workflows by enhancing scalability and operational efficiency.

Radiopharmaceuticals, once a very niche drug class, are now on the brink of transforming cancer treatment and diagnostics, and North Carolina is at the heart of this change.

These radioactive drugs consist of radioisotopes linked to targeting biomolecules that recognize specific types of cells. This combination allows precision delivery of radiation to cancer cells, without the collateral damage that comes with traditional radiation treatments. 

Durham-based EydisBio Inc. has received an Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for EYD-001, a treatment for systemic sclerosis. This rare and debilitating autoimmune disease involves hardening and tightening of the skin.

EydisBio is a Duke University spin-out leveraging a novel approach to treating various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases — including rare diseases — which have significant needs for safer and more effective treatments. EYD-001 is a highly selective and potent, orally bioavailable TAK1 inhibitor. 

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, hosted a five-day biotechnology camp for 12 high school students at the Merck Biotechnology Learning Center at the Gateway Research Park South Campus.

The camp is a result of N.C. A&T and Merck’s ongoing partnership efforts to provide teaching, research and engagement opportunities not just to faculty and students on campus, but to young scientists in the local community.

CSL Seqirus, a global vaccine maker with a massive manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, has received two federal grants totaling $155.4 million to expand production of a human vaccine against avian influenza, or bird flu, in case of a major outbreak of the disease.

The two awards bring to six the total number of pandemic preparedness grants the company has received from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.