Coriolis Pharma, a provider of research and development of for (bio)pharmaceutical drugs, is expanding its advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) development facilities under biosafety level S2 (BSL2 / S2).
 
Re-construction of an existing building near the Coriolis headquarters started in March this year and the laboratories are planned to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2021. The new facilities will increase Coriolis’ total floor space to 7,800 square meters. The new labs will host the formulation development of ATMPs, cell culture activities, particle characterization and identification, analytical ultracentrifugation and a lyophilization development center for ATMPs.
 
“Already in 2018, we started strengthening our scientific expertise and offering services for ATMPs and are now pleased to see that this segment experiences a significant growth,” said Michael Wiggenhorn, CEO, Coriolis Pharma. “That is why we are expanding our capacities in this area with new lab facilities under biosafety level S2.”
 
ATMPs are booming, but ATMP formulations are still far from advanced, according to the company. Similar to mRNA vaccine, ATMPs either have a very short shelf life (hours to days) or require (ultra) cold storage conditions. A tailored formulation development program, also exploring lyophilization as an option, can remarkably improve this situation.
 
“To support the lab expansion also from scientific perspective, we recently expanded our scientific advisory board by two distinguished experts in the field: Prof. Ernst Wagner from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich and Prof. Gideon Kersten from the Leiden University,” said Andrea Hawe, chief science officer, Coriolis Pharma. “Their scientific advice will be extremely valuable to the success of our client projects and will enable us to stay on top of recent development in the field.”