FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB), a partnership between FUJIFILM and Mitsubishi, has announced its plans to expand its gene therapy services by adding dedicated process and analytical development laboratories.
As part of its capital investment of approximately JPY13bn ($120m) in the gene therapy field, FUJIFILM would invest approximately $55m to establish a new Gene Therapy Innovation Centre.
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies US president and COO Martin Meeson said: “We are very much aware of the incredible growth in such an important therapeutic space.
“We know that we need to invest now, in technology, assets and people in order to achieve a market leadership position. The expansion through the construction of the Gene Therapy Innovation Center demonstrates our ongoing commitment for growth.”
The new facility is expected to meet the demand in the gene therapy market
The new gene therapy innovation centre spanning approximately 60,000ft2 area is planned to be established alongside FDB’s existing advanced cGMP gene therapy manufacturing facility in College Station in Texas, US.
The facility, which is expected to become operational in the fall of 2021, is intended to house upstream, downstream and analytical development technologies.
FDB is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) that develops and manufactures recombinant proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies
Also, the company produces other large molecules, viral products and medical countermeasures expressed in a wide array of microbial, mammalian, and host/virus systems, since three decades.
FDB claims to offer a wide range of services from cell line development using pAVEway microbial and Apollo cell line systems to process development, analytical development, clinical and FDA-approved commercial manufacturing.
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Texas COO Gerry Farrell said: “We expect to break ground in the first quarter of 2020, and this new facility will triple our gene therapy development capabilities and will add approximately 100 jobs to our Texas Campus.”
