Ascend Advanced Therapies, a leading gene to GMP development partner, has announced significant investments to expand its global infrastructure.
 
The company’s flagship facility in Alachua, Florida, is undergoing a major expansion to include GMP suite capacity up to 500L scales and new fill/finish capabilities. Additionally, the Munich, Germany facility is bolstering its GMP quality control (QC) testing, analytical, and process development capacity to meet increasing industry demand. These expansions are expected to continue into 2025.
 
The Alachua facility will feature new manufacturing suites and fill/finish capabilities within its existing space. Bioreactors up to 500L will be available, with plans for larger formats in the future. The facility will also allocate additional space for temperature-controlled GMP warehousing and process development labs with flexible operational space.
 
“There are both tangible and intangible assets that make a company want to work with a contract manufacturer. Our goal is to align these assets and deliver clients an exceptional experience, regardless of whether it is development projects or full clinical drug production,” Mike Stella, CEO at Ascend offered. “As our footprint grows, we will iterate over 2 decades of therapeutic AAV expertise into a connected global footprint with cutting-edge, enabling technologies, and analytics for our clients.”
 
This news comes months after Ascend added two new members to its executive team.