According to a California WARN notice, Sanofi is shuttering Principia Biopharma’s laboratories in San Francisco and laying off about three dozen employees after the Phase III PEGASUS trial failure of rilzabrutinib for pemphigus.

Avantor will buy Masterflex from privately held Antylia Scientific in a $2.9 billion all-cash deal to beef up the U.S. lab products provider’s Covid-19 therapy and vaccine manufacturing operations.

Moderna

Moderna will construct a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Canada in order to provide direct access to mRNA vaccines for the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as future viral threats and respiratory viruses. 

North Carolina’s life sciences ecosystem continues to expand as Amgen announced plans to build a new $550 million biologics manufacturing center in Holly Springs in the Research Triangle Park area. 

Novartis will launch a new phase three study to expand the use of Zolgensma – the world’s most expensive one-time therapy at $2.1 million per patient treatment – after the U.S. regulator lifted its restrictions.

Germany’s BioNTech is acquiring Kite’s solid tumor neoantigen T-cell receptor (TCR) research-and-development platform and the Gilead company’s clinical manufacturing plant in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Regeneron continues to expand the company’s presence in New York. During the next six years, Regeneron will invest $1.8 billion to expand the company’s Tarrytown facilities. The investment will support the addition of 1,000 new jobs.

Novartis

Novartis will manufacture the anti-cholesterol medicine Leqvio at the company’s own plant in Austria to supply the United States as the Swiss drugmaker seeks U.S. approval that has been delayed by regulatory concerns over a contractor’s Italian facility.

Amgen

Major players in the biotech industry are targeting Ohio for their new facilities, including Amgen, which dropped $365 million on a “digitally advanced” smart facility 15 miles outside the state’s capital. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Johnson & Johnson must throw away millions of doses of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine that were manufactured at a problem-plagued Baltimore factory, but also cleared millions for use.