Amgen, Genzyme race to develop new manufacturing process

Manufacturing biotech drugs inside living cells is a complex and expensive task. But two big outfits, Amgen ($AMGN) and Sanofi's ($SNY) Genzyme, are racing to develop a new process that promises to significantly reduce the cost of proteins and antibodies, according to a story in MIT's Technology Review. Amgen has been playing its cards close to the vest, but Genzyme has been public about its effort to change from batch production to continuous production, looking for economies that have helped transform other industries. "There's a race going on," says Konstantin Konstantinov, Genzyme's vice president for late-stage product development. "We're trying to come up with the dominant design." Feature