Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services Limited, a Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited company, inaugurated its biologics facility spread across 70,000 square feet in Genome Valley, a bio cluster located in Hyderabad, India.

The facility is designed to serve customers with process and analytical development and small-scale manufacturing of antibodies and other recombinant proteins for preclinical and early phase clinical requirements. The process and analytical development laboratories are now operational while the commissioning of manufacturing capacity will be completed later in 2024.

According to the company, the state-of-the-art facility is equipped with best-in-class equipment and control systems for seamless transfer to large-scale commercial CGMP manufacturing. The company says the new facility is complementary to its current discovery capabilities and infrastructure, which primarily focuses on recombinant proteins including mAbs, bi- and multi-specifics, immune-fusion molecules, antibody drug conjugates and other complex proteins.

Aurigene’s end-to-end service offering now delivers solutions from discovery through large-scale commercial manufacturing from three proximally located campuses. The new Genome Valley facility can deliver cell lines, process development solutions and supporting analytical methods in support of customers seeking to rapidly enter and progress through clinical development. 

The opening of this latest facility is one of multiple strategic initiatives that Aurigene is implementing to support rapid growth in both the small molecule and biologics spaces, as illustrated by recent announcements related to AI/ML-led drug discovery in small molecules and a collaboration with Vipergen, a DNA-encoded library (DEL) technologies service provider.

“The journey started a year back when we decided to invest in creating the facility,” said Akhil Ravi, CEO, Aurigene. “It is great to see the facility operational and the addition of this capacity and capabilities shows our firm commitment to the continued expansion of our biologics business, building on 25 years of proven experience. The state-of-the-art facility will enable us to service our global customers efficiently and support in the development of innovative medicine.”

Roger Lias, global commercial head, biologics, Aurigene, said, “There are very few global CDMOs that can truly support customers ‘end-to-end’ from discovery services to large scale commercial manufacture of both drug substance and drug product. Our new facility further strengthens Aurigene’s capabilities and builds on our technical excellence, demonstrated global compliance and state-of-the-art facilities as companies from start-up biotechs to global multinationals continue to strengthen their supply chains and seek economically viable support for both their development portfolios and marketed products.”