Fujifilm has announced a $1.6bn investment to expand the cell culture manufacturing services of its subsidiary Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB).
FDB is a global contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), engaged in developing and manufacturing biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies.
With the new investment, FDB is enabled to expand its manufacturing sites in Hillerød, Denmark, and Texas, US.
Fujifilm representative director, president and chief executive officer Teiichi Goto said: “Fujifilm is further expanding its bio CDMO business with the growth strategy of both capital investment and technological innovation to fulfil rapidly growing demand for high volume production of biopharmaceuticals.
“With this major investment in the large-scale production facility and the deployment of the next-generation production technology, we will be the best partner for customers as the premier bio CDMO.
“Fujifilm will, through the creation of new value from innovation, contribute to the stable supply of high-quality biopharmaceuticals, and to promoting a healthy society and further growth of healthcare industry.”
The company will add eight new 20,000L bioreactors and two downstream processing streams at FDB’s Denmark facility, expanding its cGMP-fed batch production capacity.
With the expanded production capacity, the Hillerød facility would become the largest end-to-end CDMO in Europe, and create around 450 new jobs.
At the Texas site, FDB will implement its unique SymphonX production equipment to expand the cell culture manufacturing solutions.
SymphonX is a fully automated technology platform for downstream purification.
FDB has developed the technology in-house, through its Process Development and Manufacturing Innovation programme.
The expansion will enable cGMP MaruX continuous processing capabilities at its single-use cell culture manufacturing site in Texas.
MaruX combines the advancements in upstream and downstream continuous biomanufacturing to create an integrated end-to-end process, said Fujifilm.
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies chief executive officer Martin Meeson said: “Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies will globally accelerate the deployment of the fully integrated continuous cGMP production capability to enable efficient manufacture of antibodies at a high volume.
“Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies offers a comprehensive portfolio of cell culture development and manufacturing services to support its partners in navigating the clinical journey through to commercial launch and reliable supply of antibodies to help our customers deliver medicines to patients.”
