HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C., Nov. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, vaccines, and advanced therapies, and oncolytic viruses, today hosted a site unveiling celebration for its $2 billion large-scale cell culture manufacturing facility in Holly Springs. Once completed, the new facility will be the largest CDMO in North America and will house state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical manufacturing equipment and technology including two large-scale manufacturing suites with 4 x 20,000 L bioreactors each. Designed with future growth in mind, the nearly 1,000,000 square-foot manufacturing site is being built with the flexibility to expand with additional 24 x 20,000 L bioreactors to accommodate new projects to meet the emerging needs of partners.
Once completed, the site will provide drug substance manufacturing, automated fill-finish and assembly, packaging, and labeling services for global biopharmaceutical customers. The new facility will be a cornerstone in FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global network of biopharmaceutical manufacturing for large-scale clients across Europe and the United States, allowing patient and supply chain proximity, which reduces environmental impacts of global transportation. This site will also create 725 manufacturing jobs in North Carolina by the end of 2028.
Today’s Site Unveiling Celebration included remarks from FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies President and CEO, Lars Petersen, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Large-Scale Business Unit, Kenneth Bilenberg, and Jacobs President and CEO, Bob Pragada. Jacobs is serving as engineering, procurement, and construction management partner for the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Holly Springs site.
“Today we acknowledge a great milestone achievement by the team of more than 2,500 full-time employees, contractors and skilled-trade workers who have been, and will continue to play a key role in meeting the increased demand for life-impacting therapeutics. What we are building in Holly Springs, utilizing our modular approach, allows us to increase speed and reduce risk in all processes from construction, validation, ramp up, tech transfer and in manufacturing, enabling us to deliver medicine to patients at speed,” said Petersen.
“With this amazing team, we will be ready in 2025 to meet the growing market demands from both innovators and biosimilars. We are fortunate to have the engagement of so many passionate employees and partners from local government, the chamber of commerce as well as academia contributing to bringing life-impacting medicine manufacturing of this scale to North Carolina,” added Bilenberg.
“In addition to being a valued partner to our customers, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is also a partner for the planet. I am incredibly proud of our team for implementing innovative sustainability features in the facility design including preservation of water, wetlands, and biodiversity, as well as diverting waste from landfills. We are delivering on our commitment to build this facility with sustainability at its core, as well as our commitment to Fujifilm’s Sustainable Value Plan 2030*, and I look forward to celebrating our achievement of certification of LEED gold standards for the site,” concluded Petersen.
*Sustainable Value Plan 2030 is the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) plan, targeting to be achieved by FY2031/Q3. It defines four key areas, namely the “environment,” ”health,” ”daily life” and “work style,” from the perspectives of “considering environmental and social impacts through business processes” and “resolving social issues through business activities.” For the area of the “environment,” the plan sets numerical targets including “a 45% reduction in the volume of CO2 emitted across the entire product lifecycle compared to FY2014/Q3.”
About FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, is a world-leading contract development and manufacturing organization partner for the development and manufacture of biologics, vaccines, cell and gene therapies, and oncolytic viruses. The company operates a global network with major locations in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Denmark and it is building a new manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina, USA. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies has over thirty years of experience in the development and manufacture 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 pAVEway™ microbial and Apollo™X cell line systems to process development, analytical development, clinical and FDA-approved commercial manufacturing. For more information, go to: www.fujifilmdiosynth.com.
About FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation
FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, leverages its depth of knowledge and proprietary core technologies to deliver Value from Innovation in our products and services in the business segments of healthcare, materials, business innovation, and imaging. Our relentless pursuit of innovation is focused on providing social value and enhancing the lives of people worldwide. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information about Fujifilm’s Sustainable Value Plan 2030, click here. For the year ended March 31, 2023, the company had global revenues of approximately 2.9 trillion yen (21 billion $USD at an exchange rate of 134 yen/dollar). For more information, please visit: www.fujifilmholdings.com.
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Christine Jackman FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation 9142614959 christine.jackman@fujifilm.com
