Avid Bioservices, Inc., a dedicated biologics CDMO, has appointed Elie G. Hanania, Ph.D., as vice president, process development, viral vector technologies. Dr. Hanania is an experienced life science industry executive with more than 30 years of experience in the field of cell and gene therapy.  Avid recently announced the expansion of its CDMO service offering into the rapidly growing cell and gene therapy market and Dr. Hanania will be responsible for leading the company’s efforts in this area.
 
Dr. Hanania has broad expertise across the cell and gene therapy field that spans discovery, research, development, viral vector manufacturing, and gene therapy clinical application.  This includes an established track record of success in developing and implementing state-of-the-art enabling technologies for viral vector production and purification processes focused on adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), lentiviruses, oncolytic viruses and other viruses for gene therapy and vaccine applications.
 
Dr. Hanania most recently served as director, upstream process development for Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, where he led the process development team in charge of upstream production of all viral vectors and therapeutic proteins. He has also spent more than a decade in senior level process development positions with Millipore Sigma, the life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, including several years as the company’s head of process development. In this role, Dr. Hanania managed the process development team responsible for viral vector upstream production, downstream purification, tech-transfer to CGMP manufacturing, and late-stage process characterization and validation.
 
“As part of our strategic expansion into the cell and gene therapy, we are committed to building an industry-leading team of viral vector experts with established track records of success in this cutting-edge field. Dr. Hanania is the perfect representation of the type of exemplary individual that we are seeking to build our viral vector team around,” said Drew Brennan, general manager of viral vector technologies of Avid Bioservices. “Dr. Hanania possesses all of the essential expertise required for leading an innovative viral vector process development service offering. Importantly, he has been involved in this growing sector, working intimately with the evolving science that has enabled its maturation, for multiple decades.”
 
Avid is constructing a world-class, purpose-built 53,000 sq.-ft. viral vector development and CGMP manufacturing facility in Costa Mesa, CA, approximately five miles from Avid’s existing operations in Tustin, CA. Avid expects the entire new facility build out to take up to 18 months at an estimated cost of approximately $75 million. The new facility’s analytical and process development laboratories are expected to come online more rapidly, with the potential to be operational during the first quarter of fiscal 2023.