Bioprocessing

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is expanding its campus in Barnard Castle in the United Kingdom with the construction of a $130 million liquid biopharmaceuticals production plant. The 124,000-sf aseptic sterile facility will make injectable liquids for the treatment of respiratory and autoimmune diseases and is slated for completion by November of 2019. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and offsite construction methodologies are being implemented in the delivery of the project, which includes the specification that the building can be replicated anywhere in the world.

Aldevron is building a $30 million plasmid manufacturing facility in Fargo, N.D. The 70,000-sf project will feature 17,000 sf of modular cGMP cleanrooms, as well as ISO 8 processing suites with ISO 7 suites for cell banking and fermentation. The facility will feature airlocked, unidirectional personnel flow within the cGMP production area, single-pass air for all product dispensing and cell banking suites, and integrated facility and environmental monitoring systems.

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering announced the category winners for 2018 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards in March of 2018. The awards include: 

Sanofi Genzyme is expanding its presence in the Framingham Technology Park in Massachusetts where its $80 million, 72,000-sf biomanufacturing facility is currently under construction. A two-story, 14,821-sf addition to the project will enable Sanofi Genzyme to increase its production capacity for advanced therapeutics.

ADC Biotechnology is planning to build a 70,000-sf bioconjugation facility in Deeside in the United Kingdom. Featuring GMP production suites, the $11 million integrated facility will support the manufacture of antibody drug conjugates for all clinical phases as well as small-scale commercial production. The project will include space for R&D, process development, quality control, and warehousing. Operations will commence by December of 2018.

Sartorius Stedim Cellca is constructing a $35 million Cell Culture Technology Center in Ulm, Germany. Located at Science Park III in Eselsberg, the lab and office facility will support the development of cell culture and protein production technologies. Completion is expected in 2019. 

SAB Biotherapeutics began construction in August of 2017 on an agricultural production facility for antibody therapeutics. The 80-acre ‘pharm’ will accommodate transgenic cattle which produce plasma in reaction to a vaccine, providing a source of natural human polyclonal antibodies. The facility is located adjacent to SAB’s existing corporate headquarters and is slated for completion in spring of 2018.

Merck and Stelis Biopharma opened a joint bioprocess scale-up lab in May of 2017 in Bengaluru, India. Located in the Jigani industrial park, the facility will provide end-to-end solutions from process development to scale-up manufacturing for pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial supply of biological APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients). A cGMP manufacturing plant featuring Merck's portfolio of Mobius® bioprocessing equipment is also under construction at the site. 

Samsung Biologics is constructing a 1.3 million-sf pharmaceutical production facility in the Songo International Business District in Incheon, South Korea. Accommodating twelve 15-liter bioreactors, the five-story facility will be the world’s largest biologics manufacturing plant when it opens in 2018. Ground was broken on the project in November of 2015.

Just Biotherapeutics is integrating PODs® made by G-CON Manufacturing into the construction of its biologics manufacturing building in China. Located in the Hangzhou Economic & Technology Development Area (HEDA), the cGMP plant will utilize the prefabricated cleanroom units to create a highly flexible and efficient facility. Completion is expected by early 2018.

Sanofi and Lonza initiated a joint venture in March of 2017 to create a $285 million biologics manufacturing center in Visp, Switzerland. The strategic partnership leverages Lonza’s expertise in designing, constructing, and managing large-scale mammalian cell culture facilities with Sanofi’s strength in the discovery and launch of biologics-based treatments. Construction is expected to begin in 2017 on the initial phase of the project, with full operations commencing by 2020.

Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) has relocated and consolidated three laboratories—Endocrine, Toxicology and Drug Monitoring, and the Proteomics Core Mass Spectrometry Development Lab (CMSL)—into a singular core mass spectrometry laboratory. The two-story, 65,000-gsf addition to the Superior Drive Support Center (SDSC) is 10 to 15 minutes from Mayo Clinic’s downtown Rochester, Minn., campus.

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) announced the annual winners for the Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) program in February of 2017. The category winners were:

Zymeworks opened a 10,000-sf biopharmaceutical laboratory in January of 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The facility will provide a centralized location for the company’s discovery research operations, including antibody generation, medicinal chemistry, bioconjugation, and the development of multifunctional proteins. Zymeworks is a producer of therapeutic agents for clinical-stage research on the treatment of cancer.

ImmuCell broke ground in October of 2016 on a $20 million pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Portland, Maine. The two-story, 16,800-sf facility will provide fermentation, processing, laboratory, and warehouse space for the production of Nisin, the active ingredient in one of ImmuCell's leading animal health products. Stantec is providing architectural and engineering services for the project, which is being built by Consigli Construction. Completion is expected in late 2017 with manufacturing operations commencing in early 2018.