Member News
A multi-million-pound investment by a global biologics company has been hailed as “game changing” for jobs and the region by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen.
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, which has a production facility in Billingham, has announced it will invest £613million in the US and the UK to significantly increase its manufacturing capacity for state-of-the-art drug and vaccine components.
The expansion will see gene therapy production increased ten-fold, cell culture capacity will be tripled and microbial fermentation output at the existing 5,000 litre scale facility will be doubled. Cell culture developed will also be upgraded to enable continuous manufacturing along with the addition of process and analytical capabilities.
The company currently employs 850 people in Teesside, and it is expected that this will significantly increase as part of the investment.
Fujifilm is currently building a new BioCampus at its Billingham site, which Mayor Houchen has backed with nearly £4million in funding.
Phase 1 of the BioCampus development includes the construction of 42,000 square feet of purpose-built office accommodation, additional research and development laboratories and new manufacturing facilities along with a visitors’ centre.
The firms Bilingham facility is currently being used to produce 60million doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine - the only manufacturing site for the vaccine across the whole of the UK.
It is hoped the medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), will give the vaccine the greenlight in the coming months.
Welcoming the news, Mayor Houchen said: “After months of discussions with government and Fujifilm I’m delighted at this amazing news. This game changing investment is a huge win for Teesside and for our life sciences sector.
“Fujifilm’s Billimgham facility is already playing a critical role in the fight against the coronavirus by pre-producing the Novavax vaccine ahead of the MHRA giving it regulatory approval, and expanding its Billingham facility will allow Fujifilm to play an even more important role locally, nationally and internationally.
“This hugely significant investment is testament to the skills of our scientists and engineers and will cement Teesside’s reputation as a centre of excellence when it comes to life sciences and biologics.
“We are already seeing Fujifilm expanding their Billingham facility with the development of a new multi-million-pound BioCampus, this new investment will see even more skilled jobs come to our region in yet another sector Teesside is driving forward.”
Teiichi Goto, president of FUJIFILM Corporation, said: “Fujifilm will never stop in its relentless pursuit to develop new technologies and provide the necessary manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of our customers and accelerate the growth of its Bio CDMO business.
“We will contribute to promoting a healthy society and developing the healthcare industry by providing a stable supply of high-quality biopharmaceuticals with our advanced technologies and facilities.”
It is expected that the expected facility will be up and running by late 2023.
