Last week, Repligen Corporation leased a facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts for a period of 126 months, the details of which it submitted in an SEC filing.
According to Sondra Newman, a spokesperson from the bioprocessing tools and equipment firm, the footprint expansion will incorporate its TangenX businesses, currently operating from a facility in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Repligen bought TangenX Technology from French bioprocessing firm Novasep Holding in December 2016 for €37m ($46m), adding single-use tangential flow filtration (TFF) cassettes to its downstream offering.
Regarding the new facility, Newman told this publication Repligen will take on the new space in stages, occupying about two-thirds of the site by the second half 2018, with room for further expansion over time.
“The initial plan for Marlborough is to house TangenX (flat sheet TFF) filtration operations and manufacturing,” she said, adding that while the firm will initially transfer employees from Shrewsbury and Worcester, the site will create new jobs over time, “primarily technical and manufacturing jobs tied to increasing demand for the products we will manufacture in Marlborough.”
The site will eventually incorporate some of Spectrum's filtration products. Repligen bought Spectrum Pharmaceuticals for $350m in June 2017, bolstering its portfolio with microfiltration and ultrafiltration-focused hollow fibre cartridges.
The former tenants at the 111 Locke Drive, Marlborough site was communications equipment firm Motorola.
Newman could not comment on the cost of refitting the site and adding equipment for now but Capex details will likely be disclosed during Repligen’s Q4 results call on February 22.
CORRECTION: The original article indicated Repligen was consolidating both TangenX and Spectrum into the new facility. While TangenX will fully move to Marlborough over time, only a 2,500 square-feet Spectrum plant in Worcester, Massachusetts will also be transferred. "Based on Spectrum Worcester’s close proximity, it makes sense to move this small operation into Marlborough as well," Newman confirmed