Novasep Invests ?17 M in "mAbulous", its Dedicated cGMP Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Production Facility

LYON, France, December 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Novasep, a leading supplier of services and technologies for the life sciences industry, announces a ?17M investment in a dedicated GMP mAb production facility. The facility will be located in Pompey (FR) and will be operational by mid-2019.

The investment, part of a new strategy cycle, Rise-2, will feature USP (upstream processing) and DSP (downstream processing) suites equipped with single-use 50-L, 200-L bioreactors and Novasep's BioSc® low pressure chromatography system. The BioSc® technology, the core of Novasep's proprietary DSP platform, enables very flexible DSP, in batch and/or continuous modes.

With this investment, Novasep, through its alliance with its partner GTP Technology, will be able to propose integrated small-volume development and cGMP manufacturing services for mAbs, with a focus on small volume mAbs, typically for targeted therapies, orphan indications, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).

"We are very excited to see this 'mAbulous' project come to life!" Dr Michel Spagnol, Chairman and CEO of Novasep, said. "In addition to complementing the ADC conjugation facility we inaugurated in Le Mans earlier this year, the new facility will enrich Novasep's scope of services through the addition of dedicated mAb production suites, and help address the increasing demand for small-scale mAb production capacity."

About 1,200 mAbs are currently launched and in development stage, be they 'naked' or conjugated. This class represents 45% of biomolecules in development and targets two main market segments. The first one is for broad therapeutic applications that require the large-volume mAbs. The second one for smaller therapeutic applications such as for orphan drugs, targeted therapies or ADCs that require much smaller volumes at commercial stage. Given the booming number of molecules in development in this segment, the demand for such small-scale production capacity is rapidly expanding.

"After the ?27M investment for gene therapy production, this is the second investment we announce this year to support the strong development of innovative therapies. This time, we have chosen to implement the new facility, in our French site in Pompey (54) where we'll create high-skilled positions in biotechnologies on the top of those already existing," Spagnol added. "We are delighted to see our shareholders continuing to support our rapid growth."

For press information, click here https://www.novasep.com/press-release-about-novasep.html

SOURCE Novasep