The new site is five miles from Avid’s existing operations in Tustin, CA.
Avid has also appointed Drew Brennan, an experienced CDMO business development executive, as general manager of viral vector technologies to lead its expansion into the cell and gene therapy market.
Meeting demand
The cell and gene therapy market has seen continued strong growth; and yet the CDMO industry still lacks proven, high-quality CGMP manufacturing expertise and capacity for viral vectors, says Avid. This has prompted its decision to expand into viral vector development and manufacturing.
The company expects the complete new facility build out to take up to 18 months, costing $65m - $75m. The analytical and process development laboratories are expected to come online earlier, and could be operational within six to eight months.
This investment into viral vector services follows Avid’s recent moves to grow its existing biologics manufacturing capacity through ongoing expansions at its Myford manufacturing facility. The expansion into viral vector services, combined with the ongoing Myford expansion, has the potential to bring the company’s total annual revenue generating capacity to more than $350m.
As the new general manager of viral vector technologies, Brennan will be responsible for overseeing all business activities related to Avid’s expansion into the cell and gene therapy market. He comes to Avid after more than a decade in senior sales and operations positions at Novasep, a provider of equipment and services in the fields of both small molecule and biologics production and purification for the life science and chemical industries.
Nicholas Green, president and chief executive officer of Avid Bioservices, said: “We believe that the addition of viral vector services is a natural extension of our existing traditional biologics offering and provides another avenue for growth by supporting the development and manufacturing of these innovative therapies. We are also thrilled to add Drew to our team to lead our business efforts in the cell and gene therapy market. His impressive track record in this area, combined with the deep relationships that he has developed throughout the industry, will strongly position this new service offering for success.”
