FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Expands Its Gene Therapy Manufacturing Capacity At Its College Station, Texas Location

Capacity increase will support production of high throughput and large volume gene therapy products

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Feb. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies U.S.A., Inc. (FDB), a world leading cGMP Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) supporting its partners in the biopharmaceutical industry with the development and manufacture of their biologics, vaccines and gene therapies has announced that it has commenced the planned capacity expansion of its "Flexible Biomanufacturing Facility" at its College Station, Texas location. The Flexible Biomanufacturing Facility is designed to support late phase and commercial manufacturing of gene therapies and other advanced therapies. The Flexible Biomanufacturing Facility complements the extensive development and early phase manufacturing capabilities provided by the company from the National Centre for Therapeutic Manufacture also located in College Station, Texas.

The expansion project will include the addition of cell culture and high throughput manufacturing suites. The expanded facility will house multiple 500L and 2000L bioreactors to support the production of gene therapy products that have high production demands.  This $35M USD expansion is part of the previously announced capital investment of approximately 13 billion yen (approx. $120 million USD) in the gene therapy field by FUJIFILM Corporation.

"The capacity increase to our Flexible Manufacturing Facility will allow us to support the growing demand for commercial-ready, high volume production of gene therapy products, many of which are in development to treat rare diseases, which makes this announcement even more significant, as today we honor rare disease patients on Rare Disease Day," said Gerry Farrell, chief operating officer, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, Texas.

"These investments are part of FUJIFILM Corporation's long term strategy to provide leading, future proofed end-to-end gene therapy solutions, from pre-clinical to commercial launch," said Martin Meeson, president and chief operating officer, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, U.S.A.

FDB expects the expansion of its Flexible Biomanufacturing Facility to complete by Fall 2020.

About Fujifilm

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies an industry-leading Biologics Contract  Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with locations in Teesside, UK, RTP, North Carolina, College Station, Texas and Hillerod, Denmark.  FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies has over thirty years of experience in the development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, among other large molecules, viral products and medical countermeasures expressed in a wide array of microbial, mammalian, and host/virus systems. The company offers a comprehensive list of services from cell line development using its proprietary pAVEwaytm microbial and Apollotm cell line systems to process development, analytical development, clinical and FDA-approved commercial manufacturing. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is a partnership between FUJIFILM Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.  For more information, go to: www.fujifilmdiosynth.com

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, brings cutting edge solutions to a broad range of global industries by leveraging its depth of knowledge and fundamental technologies developed in its relentless pursuit of innovation. Its proprietary core technologies contribute to the various fields including healthcare, graphic systems, highly functional materials, optical devices, digital imaging and document products. These products and services are based on its extensive portfolio of chemical, mechanical, optical, electronic and imaging technologies. For the year ended March 31, 2019, the company had global revenues of $22 billion, at an exchange rate of 111 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: www.fujifilmholdings.com.

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