Whether it´s oncolytic viruses or vectors for cancer therapy or modern vaccines, the demand for development, production or filling capacities is rising rapidly. To keep pace with this rise in customer demand, Vibalogics, which recently became part of the Recipharm Group, is investing around US$50m in the expansion of its Cuxhaven site by the end of the year, and even more in the US site near Boston.

Immunogenicity and limited gene transfer capacity can negatively affect the outcome of cell and gene therapies. European Biotechnology magazine spoke to Dr Dimitrios Laurin Wagner, Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) and Gene Editing for Cell Therapy group leader at Charité, on new approaches that promise to overcome some limitations of current virus-based gene therapies.

A current Nature study specifies the most competitive health biotech sectors worldwide and puts Switzerland at the top, Sweden second and the USA third. Does the new math convince?

The efficacy of therapeutic antibodies is defined by their primary amino acid sequence. ­After discovery, antibody candidates often profit from protein engineering and sequence optimisation. ­Different technologies can improve the functional properties of antibodies as well as their biochemical and biophysical characteristics influencing manufacturing, process development, formulation, and other parameters of the final drug target product profile.

In recent years, several beneficial cell samples and microbial strains have been discovered, engineered, and studied, resulting in scientific discoveries and other technological breakthroughs such as vaccines and medicines benefitting communities all around the world. However, several medical products tend to require very low temperatures for storage, making Ultra-Low Freezers increasingly important to maintain their viability.