The site expansion creates the largest single-use biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation in Britain.
Contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Fujifilm Biotechnologies has expanded its site in Teesside. The £400 million investment includes the opening of the largest single-use biopharmaceutical CDMO facility in the UK, located at the existing FUJIFILM Biotechnologies site.
The UK expansion represents the newest addition to Fujifilm Biotechnologies’ global manufacturing network and introduces 2,000 litre and 5,000 litre single-use bioreactors with a total capacity up to 19,000 litres to provide small- and mid-scale antibody manufacturing, with the flexibility to expand to support customer programmes as needed.
The 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility will be operational in the first half of the year.
In parallel, the opening of the Bioprocess Innovation Centre UK (BIC UK), delivers a laboratory for both high-throughput and continuous process development capabilities, and will operate as a global centre for biomanufacturing innovation and process development.
The over 102,200 square foot facility doubles the campus’ existing lab footprint and complements the site’s manufacturing capabilities.
Rare disorders
Together, these investments increase Fujifilm Biotechnologies’ global manufacturing network and expand its capacity to develop and produce medicines for conditions including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare disorders for biopharmaceutical companies. The expanded UK operations will closely align with Fujifilm’s biomanufacturing facility in Toyama, Japan.
“Over the past decade, Fujifilm has invested more than £5 billion globally to grow our CDMO business,” said Toshihisa Iida, chairman of Fujifilm Biotechnologies. “The opening of our UK expansion will enable us to support our partners’ products from the process development stage to early clinical manufacturing – ranging from low-volume therapies for ultra-rare diseases to commercial biologics, all from one site.”
The new manufacturing building will be fully electrified, and the firm says that it will maximise the use of renewable energy going forward.
The Fujifilm Biotechnologies’ UK site has more than 960 employees working across its facilities and is part of a global workforce of 5,000 people across its global network. Overall, the firm employs 1,700 people in the UK, and operates across the fields of photography, print and ink, life sciences and diagnostic imaging – as a partner and provider to the National Health Service.
