Fujifilm Expands US, UK Capacities
Japan’s Fujifilm has pledged an investment package of about $850 million to accelerate the growth of its core bio CDMO subsidiary Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies by expanding capabilities at undisclosed locations in the US and UK. Initial engineering studies are underway and the projects are scheduled to begin operating by late 2023.
The expansions will double cell culture production for recombinant vaccines in the US. In the UK, gene therapy production will be increased tenfold, cell culture capacity will be tripled, and microbial fermentation output at the existing 5,000-liter scale facility will be doubled.
Fujifilm said market growth for CDMO services, including outsourcing process and analytical development, bulk drug substance manufacturing, fill & finish and finished goods (packaging) production, is expected to continue due to increasing demand for biotherapeutics such as antibodies, gene therapy treatments and vaccines against new infectious diseases such as Covid-19.
“Fujifilm will never stop in its relentless pursuit to develop new technologies and provide the necessary manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of our customers and accelerate the growth of its bio CDMO business,” said Fujifilm president Teiichi Goto.
The Tokyo-headquartered group has announced a series of investments this year. In March, it revealed the selection of Holly Springs in North Carolina as the site of its new large-cell culture production site in the US. The company said this will be the largest end-to-end cell culture biopharma CDMO facility in North America when it starts up in spring 2025.
Also in March, work started on a project to double cell culture capacity and add large-scale fill & finish capabilities in Hillerød, Denmark, with the expansion due to go online by the end of 2023. In April, groundbreaking took place on a project to expand a microbial facility in Teesside, UK, which will start operation in early 2022.
A $40 million investment was announced in January to establish a new process development and manufacturing facility for viral vectors and advanced therapies in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The center is due to open in the fall of 2021.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
