Officials at Tokyo-based AGC say the company plans to install an additional twelve 2,000L single-use animal-cell bioreactors at their Seattle AGC Biologics site, as well as establish a new contract development and manufacturing facility for microbial manufacturing, which was previously only operated in Europe and Japan. AGC Biologics is a CDMO subsidiary of the company.
The expansion is expected to triple AGC’s biopharmaceutical production capacity in the US while also “ensuring seamless operation of microbial and animal cell-based biopharmaceutical CDMO activities across the Japan, Europe, and the US regions,” explains Takuya Shimamura, AGC’s president. The total investment of this expansion is estimated to be about $90 million, with full-scale operations slated from July 2020.
“To continue providing our customers consistent top-level quality and service, AGC intends to pursue necessary acquisitions and capital investments in the synthetic and biopharmaceutical business, adds Gustavo Mahler, CEO of AGC Biologics. “We expect significant growth in demand during the coming years. By maximizing synergies among our operations, AGC will continue to pursue its goal of being a leading company that supports pharmaceutical companies, medical patients, and all of society.”
