The facility – which will be adjacent to the contract manufacturing organisation’s (CMO) plant – will produce protein-based drugs, antibody fragments and plasmid DNA for therapeutics. The plant will house a 2,200L fermenter.
The firm – which is owned by Japanese chemical producer Kaneka – cited “current market need” as motivation for building the new plant.
Executive vice president Lieven Janssens said: “The rapid growth in cell and gene therapy products is driving the need for large batches of plasmid DNA.
He added that: “Our existing pharma and biotech customers have already expressed the need for kilo-scale manufacturing capabilities and we have developed equipment and methods to respond to these needs with the new facility.”
Work on the plant is due to start this year according to Kaneka Eurogentec, which said it will be equipped with a 2,200L fermenter for the production and purification of biomedicines using microbial strains.
The firm also said it plans to hire 40 additional production staff to work at the plant.