AGC Biologics, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), used the services of International Process Plants to find a pre-existing, US-based facility.
The CDMO will invest $100m (€89m) into the project, acquiring the facility from previous owners AstraZeneca, which had taken the decision to close the facility in the beginning of 2019 to consolidate its manufacturing capabilities. Since that time, no production has been occurring at the idled plant.
The site, which AZ had originally bought from Amgen in 2015, covers approximately 330,000-square-feet and is expected to begin commercial-scale operations by April 2021.
Currently, the facility contains two 20,000L stainless steel mammalian cell bioreactors but it has space for up to four additional bioreactors of the same size.
According AGC Biologics, the decision was taken to find a larger-scale facility due to a “higher ratio of late-phase and commercial projects” within its portfolio.
The fully operational site will contribute 280 jobs to Boulder, adding to the CDMO’s workforce of more than 1,000 employees across the US, Denmark, Germany, and Japan.
AGC Biologics’ CEO, Patricio Massera, stated that the purchase was part of a wider ‘expansion initiative’ to support customer demand for mammalian projects.
In 2018, the company chose to begin work on a building complex in Bothell, US, as its new global headquarters, specifically in order to expand in the US.
