Avid Bioservices Provides Update on Ongoing Expansion of Process Development Capabilities and Laboratory Infrastructure

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.