AGC Biologics is expanding its CDMO services with plasmid DNA (pDNA) offerings from its Heidelberg site in Germany. The demand for pDNA is growing for many different applications such as the manufacturing of DNA adjuvants and vaccines and as a starting material for RNA drugs and cell-free protein expression platforms. In recent years, pDNA has been key for gene therapy applications for the creation of Lentivirus and Adeno-associated viruses as well as direct gene therapy.
 
“Our priority has always been to serve our customers with a commitment to continue innovating. By expanding this plasmid DNA supply commercially, we’re meeting the growing demand,” said AGC Biologics chief executive officer Patricio Massera. “Our globally aligned network is equipped and experienced to take on this expansion. We look forward to working with our customers to help them achieve their goals.”
 
AGC’s facility in Heidelberg has been manufacturing pDNA for 10 years. Now, the site has completed a pDNA manufacturing process improvement project that enables the extension of the offer in hosts and plasmids (low and high copy pDNA expression systems) via a large toolbox in process development with scales of 1L to 10L for High Quality pDNA. These processes can be scaled up to fit into the established 50L, 100L, 500L or 1000L GMP manufacturing.