Fujifilm Corporation has announced an investment of approximately $40 million in Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, viral vaccines and viral vectors, to establish a new process development and manufacturing facility for viral vectors and advanced therapies in the greater-Boston area. This will be the third location for viral vector CDMO services provided by Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.
 
The new facility is scheduled to begin process development operations in fall 2021 and will expand Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ manufacturing capacity to support the growing viral vector sector, which is focused on using genes to treat or prevent disease. The new facility will house experimental and analytical equipment for viral vector and advanced therapy process development, with contract manufacturing services for early phase clinical trials beginning at the site in fall 2023.
 
“The strength of Fujifilm’s Bio CDMO business lies in its wide-range of capabilities: process development for a variety of biopharmaceutical such as antibodies, recombinant protein, gene therapy, vaccines, oncolytic virus and more, along with flexible facilities that can adapt to small- or large-scale manufacturing of drug substances, formulation and packaging,” said Takatoshi Ishikawa, senior executive vice president and chief life science officer, Fujifilm Corporation. “We will continue to leverage our expertise in Bio CDMO to further accelerate our offerings in viral vectors and advanced therapies, with the ultimate goal of fulfilling unmet medical needs.”
 
Martin Meeson, chief executive officer, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, said, “We are strategically establishing this facility in the greater-Boston area where there is a high concentration of biopharmaceutical companies and academia innovating in the field of advanced therapies.”
 
In 2014, Fujifilm Corporation established viral vector manufacturing offering at the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ site in Texas. As the market for viral vectors has continued to expand, Fujifilm has invested a further approximately $120 million in the Texas site to build a new process development facility and to expand existing manufacturing facilities. More recently, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies announced an investment to provide process and analytical development and cGMP manufacturing of viral vectors in the U.K.
 
“Together these three sites will enable us to respond to our customers’ needs to support their viral vector manufacturing process from early clinical stage through to commercialization, to ensure these life-saving treatments are available to patients in need,” said Meeson.