Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, the Billingham-based world leading facility for biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies has officially unveiled a £100m investment.
The company has opened its microbial fermentation manufacturing facility in the town. This new facility triples existing microbial production throughput with the addition of a new production line and a purification suite.
To support further expansion, the facility is built with the flexibility to accommodate new projects to meet the emerging needs of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ partners, and to provide supply chain resilience.
The expansion was customised, in part, to support a large pharmaceutical partner with a highly specialised ophthalmic therapeutic for wet age-related macular degeneration - an eye disorder that causes blurred vision in the central vision. AMD is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 700,000 people, with 39,800 patients each year.
Lars Petersen, President and CEO, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, said: “With the completion of this project, we are fulfilling our commitment with our partner, and supporting the commercialisation of its ophthalmic therapeutic
“This is a prime example of our partnership-based business model, a key element in our Partners for Life strategy, to help our customers bring their life-impacting medicines to patients.”
Science Minister Lord Vallance. said: "Sight loss is devastating for the quality of life, and the confidence, of those who suffer from it. The specialised therapeutics that will be made at Billingham, thanks to this investment, could eventually help thousands of people.
“This news is also proof of the economic value of our life sciences clusters – pulling investment into places like Teesside, and building on the world-class expertise that is already in the area.”
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COO Kenneth Bilenberg added: “Securing capacity in strategic locations to support our customers’ needs now and in the future is a key element of our Partners for Life strategy.
“This celebration underscores our commitment to our BioCampus in Billingham where we are progressing on expansions for our Process Development and Quality labs as well as an expansion focusing on late stage clinical and commercial cell culture drug substance manufacturing.”
Jonathan Haigh, UK Site Head said: “Our broad capabilities in microbial process development and commercial manufacture, the depth of our experience, and our innovative and proprietary technologies and systems are crucial to ensure that we are able to support the short-and-long term needs of our partners to ensure a secure supply to advance clinical trials, and bring patient medicines to market."
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of the Fujifilm Corporation, is a world-leading contract development and manufacturing organisation partner for the development and manufacture of biologics, vaccines, cell and gene therapies, and oncolytic viruses. The company operates a global network with major locations in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Denmark and it is building a new manufacturing site in North Carolina, USA.
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