Pharmaceutical services firms continue to invest in viral vectors

Charles River Laboratories has agreed to acquire Vigene Biosciences, a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization, for $292.5 million, with up to $57.5 million in potential payments based on performance. Vigene specializes in manufacturing viral vectors used in gene-modified cell therapies. The company also makes plasmid DNA building blocks for viral vectors and vaccines. Vigene recently announced that it will add 4,800 m² of manufacturing space at its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. Charles River says Vigene will complement nonclinical viral vector manufacturing in the UK and Sweden that it obtained in its March purchase of Cognate BioServices for $875 million. Meanwhile, Thermo Fisher Scientific has formed a partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, aimed at accelerating development and production of cell-based therapies. Thermo Fisher will build and operate a 4,000 m² research and manufacturing center in space leased on the university’s Mission Bay campus. The firm has invested heavily in viral vectors in recent years, notably with its 2019 acquisition of Brammer Bio for $1.7 billion.