Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) AGC Biologics has bought AstraZeneca’s commercial manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

AGC said the large-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility is very well suited for high-volume commercial production and high titer antibody processes and will provide additional capacity and significantly larger production scale

The plant houses two 20,000 liter (total volume) stainless steel mammalian cell bioreactors and also has more than 20 acres with multiple opportunities for future expansions, including space for up to four more 20,000 liter bioreactors.

AGC expects full-scale operations and manufacturing to start by April 2021.

The company is also completing major expansion projects this year and in early 2021 at its sites in Seattle, Washington, USA; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Chiba, Japan.

The CDMO was formed in January 2018 from the merger of AGC Bioscience, Biomeva and CMC Biologics.