A £100m microbial fermentation facility will boost the UK’s readiness for global health threats and pandemics.
The investment by Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies triples existing microbial production throughput at its Billingham Life Science Hub.
The unit includes a production line equipped with 2 X 4000 L fermenters, primary separations suite and a modular purification suite.
It can also be repurposed at speed for new projects in the face of evolving health threats.
In its current form, the new facility will triple existing microbial production capacity, expanding its late stage clinical and commercial cell culture drug substance manufacturing footprint.
Currently, the site is focused on specialised ophthalmic therapeutic for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Wet AMD is 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 developing ‘wet’ AMD each year1.
Ultimately, this will bring patient medicines to market more quickly and be an enormous boost for the UK’s life science sector, which has been hampered by economic event such as inflation and geopolitical instability.
Speaking at the facility’s launch, Fujifilm president and CEO Lars Petersen 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.”
“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 who suffer from wet age-related macular degeneration,” added Science Minister Lord Vallance. “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.”
“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,” said COO Kenneth Bilenberg.
Jonathan Haigh, UK Site Head, added, “Our broad capabilities in microbial process development and commercial manufacture, the depth of our experience, and our innovative and proprietary technologies and systems, such as the Paveway™ PLUS expression systems2, 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.”
REFERENCEs
First NOD Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) audit annual report| NOD Audit. 2003. https://nodaudit.org.uk/node/4174#:~:text=AMD%20is%20the%20biggest%20cause,affects%20one%20person%20in%20five.
Paveway™ PLUS is a well proven E. coli expression system with >150 different therapeutic proteins successfully expressed with a variety of accumulation routes, including intracellular soluble, intracellular insoluble and periplasmic secretion. In addition to the potential for reduced costs of goods, Paveway also makes possible antibiotic-free cGMP production without compromising yields and versatility.
