UK-based ADC Biotechnology has announced a $10 million plan to build a 1,500 square-meter manufacturing facility for advanced anti-cancer drugs.

The two-stage expansion program marks the transition of ADC Bio into GMP manufacturing of ADCs (antibody drug conjugates) and will create over 60 new science jobs at completion.

The investment responds to demand by drug developers and a shortage of capacity to make these new drugs in quantities sufficient for large-scale clinical trials.

Phase 1 of the project will come on stream in mid-2017, creating a 1,500 square-meter state-of-the-art, dual-stream facility for process development, manufacturing and quality testing of ADC drugs.

From both scale and regulatory perspectives, the new facility will be able to produce clinical trial and low-volume commercial quantities. Production will be in cutting edge cleanroom facilities, accommodating both ADC Bio’s proprietary Lock-Release technology and conventional, solution-phase production.

The facility will bring process development, manufacture, quality control, quality assurance and stability testing together under one roof at ADC Bio’s operational headquarters in St. Asaph, North Wales.

A projected second phase is planned to add another 2,500 square-meters of manufacturing space for larger scale clinical and commercial manufacturing.