ReciBioPharm receives RNA manufacturing grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Contract development and manufacturing organization Recipharm announced that its ReciBioPharm biologics division has been awarded a three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the global deployment of RNA continuous manufacturing technologies to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

“Being able to bring continuous manufacturing to these countries for the next crisis, when it comes, is super important,” Recipharm CEO Greg Behar told Pharma Manufacturing. “We’re not yet running any drug construct. We’re still in the piloting phase and we’ll choose the drug in 2025, but it should be probably a vaccine.”

The grant will enable worldwide implementation of an RNA continuous manufacturing platform and focus on the advancement of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) — developed through an $82 million Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) project funded by the FDA — as well as predictive analytics software.

A portion of the MIT project was subcontracted to ReciBioPharm to implement an end-to-end process developed by researchers in a pilot-scale manufacturing facility. Recipharm operates development and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

“Our previously announced collaboration with MIT has underscored the potential of continuous manufacturing for RNA therapeutics,” ReciBioPharm CSO Aaron Cowley said in a statement. “This grant will help to strengthen our role as a pioneer in innovation and support our mission to make lifesaving technologies more accessible.”

ReciBioPharm contends that its platform will improve the scalability, quality, and accessibility of RNA-based medicines, while helping to advance the company’s goal of developing fully integrated, continuous processes across the biomanufacturing industry.