Holly Springs, NC, Oct. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and viral vectors, held a groundbreaking ceremony today to celebrate the start of its large-scale cell culture expansion project, funded by a major capital investment of $2 Billion USD from FUJIFILM Corporation (previously announced in January 2021). North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced Holly Springs, North Carolina as the selected location for the facility in March 2021, which is expected to be operational by spring 2025. The new site will bring 725 new jobs to the area by the end of 2028.
The new facility will offer large-scale cell culture manufacturing of bulk drug substance production with 8 x 20,000L bioreactors with the potential to expand and add a further 24 x 20,000L bioreactors based on market demand. In addition, the facility will also provide commercial-scale, automated fill-finish and assembly, packaging, and labelling services.
Today’s event included remarks from North Carolina State Senator Sydney Batch, North Carolina State Representative Erin Paré, Wake County Commissioner Chair Matt Calabria, Town of Holly Springs Mayor Dick Sears, Economic Development & Statewide Operations for North Carolina Biotechnology Center Senior Vice President Bill Bullock, and NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson.
"Today's groundbreaking of the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies facility is proof that North Carolina has a world class workforce and talent pipeline," said Governor Roy Cooper. “We’re the right choice for them and I welcome them to our state.”
“Today we celebrated a significant milestone of bringing this new site closer to reality, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our partners, and our current employees. We are now looking into the future as we build a facility that will further allow us to fulfill FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ core purpose to produce life-impacting medicines in partnership with our customers,” said Martin Meeson, chief executive officer, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. “With the strong embrace of our public and private partners in North Carolina we are excited to add 725 new members to our team over the next several years. We will be doing all of this in a facility that is designed and built with sustainability as its core in alignment with Fujifilm’s Sustainable Value Plan 2030*.”
*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.”
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About FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is an industry-leading Biologics Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with locations in Teesside, UK, RTP, North Carolina, College Station, Texas and Hillerød, 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 pAVEway™ microbial and Apollo™X 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
About Fujifilm
FUJIFILM Corporation is an operating company of FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation. 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, highly functional materials, document solutions and imaging 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, 2021, the company had global revenues of $21 billion, at an exchange rate of 106 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: https://www.fujifilmholdings.com
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