Enhancements Support New Customer Acquisition Efforts, Highlighted by Recent Signing of Three New Process Development and Manufacturing Agreements

TUSTIN, Calif., April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) (NASDAQ:CDMOP), a dedicated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) working to improve patient lives by providing high quality development and manufacturing services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, today provided an update on the company's ongoing efforts to expand and optimize its process development capabilities and laboratory space within its CDMO campus in Orange County, California.  Avid has successfully commenced these efforts which include expanding its total available process development laboratory space to more than 6,000 square feet, upgrading the infrastructure and equipment within its existing process development laboratories, and implementing new state-of-the-art technologies and equipment designed to facilitate efficient, high-throughput development of innovative upstream and downstream manufacturing processes.  The company is strategically conducting this work in phases to avoid disruption to current customer programs, with the first new laboratories expected to be operational during the third quarter of calendar 2018.

Process development represents a vital CDMO function and one through which Avid provides a critical competitive advantage to customers in both early and late stages of development.  Importantly, the planned improvements are designed to accelerate the company's creation and delivery of cost-effective, robust, scalable and compliant processes and to drive efficient and rapid "on-boarding" of new customer programs progressing to manufacturing.  Additionally, these enhancements will directly improve Avid's cell line development capabilities, supporting the ongoing evaluation and optimization of the company's novel CHO-based expression system, which is expected to provide further unique benefits to its customers.

Avid is committed to strengthening its position as one of the CDMO industry's process development leaders to further support its new customer acquisition efforts.  In recent weeks, the company has signed new agreements with three additional undisclosed international drug development companies, which are focused on Avid providing process development and manufacturing services to support the rapid advancement of each company's novel biologic candidate into clinical development.  The drug candidates involved in these agreements are being developed for application in certain cell therapy, respiratory and oncology indications.  Avid has already commenced work on each of these projects.  With these recent agreements, the company has now executed Master Service Agreements with four new clients in calendar 2018, as compared with four similar agreements during the entire 2017 calendar year.

"We are proud of our 25-year history of expertise in developing and manufacturing biologics and remain committed to continuing to serve as a leader in this space by developing, implementing and operating state-of-the-art manufacturing processes.  By increasing focus on process development, we are aligning with market needs and requirements for clients ranging from emerging biotechs to multinational pharmaceutical companies and creating a strong pipeline of future additional manufacturing opportunities," said Roger Lias, Ph.D., Avid's president and chief executive officer. "These ongoing enhancements will provide essential additional support for our business development efforts which continue to operate under the dual strategy of capturing early-stage customers, which are immediately revenue generating, as well as larger, late-stage programs.  Calendar year 2018 is off to an excellent start with regard to growing and diversifying our customer base.  In just a few months, we have already matched the total new client wins for all of calendar 2017, and we are continuing to work to convert a strong pipeline of additional opportunities."

About Avid Bioservices, Inc.
Avid Bioservices is a dedicated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on development and cGMP manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products derived from mammalian cell culture.  The company provides a comprehensive range of process development, high quality cGMP clinical and commercial manufacturing services for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries.  With 25 years of experience producing monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins in batch, fed-batch and perfusion modes, Avid's services include cGMP clinical and commercial product manufacturing, purification, bulk packaging, stability testing and regulatory strategy, submission and support.  The company also provides a variety of process development activities, including cell line development and optimization, cell culture and feed optimization, analytical methods development and product characterization.  www.avidbio.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release which are not purely historical, including statements regarding Avid Bioservices' intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or predictions of the future, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the risk the company may experience delays in engaging new clients, the risk that the company may experience technical difficulties in processing customer orders which could delay delivery of products to customers, revenue recognition and receipt of payment or the loss of the customer, the risk that one or more existing customers terminates its contract prior to completion or reduces or delays its demand for development or manufacturing services, the risk that the company may experience delays in completing the expansion of its process development capabilities and laboratory infrastructure. Our business could be affected by a number of other factors, including the risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2017 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as any updates to these risk factors filed from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and we disclaim any obligation, and do not undertake, to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release except as may be required by law.

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