News Release Details

Avid Bioservices and Bioreliance Team Up To Provide Eukaryotic Cell Banking Services to the Biopharmaceutical Industry

September 20, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT
Avid Bioservices and Bioreliance Team Up To Provide Eukaryotic Cell Banking Services to the Biopharmaceutical IndustryTustin, CA -September 20, 2005 - Avid Bioservices, Inc., a subsidiary of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PPHM), announced today that it has teamed up with BioReliance, Inc., a subsidiary of Invitrogen Corporation, to augment capacity for BioReliance's eukaryotic cell banking services for the biopharmaceutical industry.

"As part of our total service strategy model, we work hard to ensure clients have rapid access to our cell banking services on their timelines. Reducing client's time to market involves delivering capacity on demand.  Given recent growth in our cell banking inquiries, it makes sense to augment our existing eukaryotic cell banking capabilities through partnerships with premier service providers such as Avid Bioservices," said Chris Linthwaite, Senior Director, Invitrogen BioProduction Services.

BioReliance has state-of-the-art facilities to manufacture master cell banks (MCB's) and working cell banks (WCB's) in Frederick, Maryland and in Scotland.  BioReliance has expertise in producing a wide range of cell banks and offers services for both campaign and non-campaign prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell banking. BioReliance also is a leading supplier of cell bank testing services.

"We look forward to working with BioReliance to provide comprehensive cell banking services to their customers and ours," said William Jay Treat, Ph.D., Avid's Chief Operations Officer. "Avid has a dedicated cGMP cell banking suite at its Tustin, California facility, and we have extensive experience in making MCB's and WCB's for mammalian Cell Lines."

Founded in 1947, BioReliance has since become the world's largest specialist provider of contract biologics safety testing, GMP manufacturing and pre-clinical and clinical testing services. In 2004, the company became a subsidiary of Invitrogen; strengthening company resources and expanding the range of services available to clients including process development, toxicology testing, and analytical development for biopharmaceutical products.
 
About Avid Bioservices, Inc.
Avid Bioservices, a subsidiary of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PPHM), provides a comprehensive range of cGMP manufacturing services for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. Avid has ten years of antibody manufacturing experience producing monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins in batch, fed-batch and perfusion modes. Avid has manufactured cGMP clinical supplies for Phase I through Phase III clinical trials as well conformance lots for commercial production. The company's comprehensive range of cGMP services includes cell banking, stability testing, clinical product manufacturing and purification, bulk packaging, final product filling and regulatory support.  Avid also provides a variety of process development activities, including cell line optimization, analytical method development and product characterization.  For more information, please visit www.avidbio.com.