Dive Brief:
- Fujifilm will spend $188 million to build a cell culture media manufacturing facility in North Carolina to meet an expected uptick in demand from the biopharmaceutical industry.
- The 250,000-square-foot facility will supply liquid and powder solutions that aid in cell growth for biologics and advanced therapies. It will triple the company’s current liquid media production capacity when operational in 2025.
- Construction is slated to begin in 2023. Once complete, the facility will mark subsidiary Fujifilm Irvine Scientific’s second cell culture media facility in the U.S. and fifth worldwide.
Dive Insight:
The new facility comes on the heels of a $1.6 billion Fujifilm investment to expand cell culture manufacturing services at its contract development and manufacturing organization facilities in Denmark and Texas.
“With the enhanced capabilities of our global manufacturing sites for cell culture media, we will continuously contribute to customers’ robust manufacturing process and creation of innovative therapies,” President and CEO of Fujifilm Corporation Teiichi Goto said in a statement.
In support of the effort, California-based Fujifilm Irvine will build the North Carolina site to tackle rapid growth it has experienced over the past decade. It will also accommodate an expected rise in demand for cell growth media to support advanced therapies through 2031, according to the release.
North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park was chosen to house the facility as it positions the company to take advantage of existing regional supply networks — offering both supply chain security and faster delivery customers in the region, per the release.
The site selection supports Fujifilm Irvine Scientific’s strategy of building out its manufacturing capabilities in established biotech hubs. Other companies including KBI Biopharma and cell therapy firm CARsgen have also moved into the Research Triangle Park over the past couple years.
“The cell culture media that will be manufactured at this new site in North Carolina will help ensure a steady supply of raw materials for biologics, cell and gene therapies, and other key medicines that are essential to human health,” the chairman and CEO of Fujifilm Irvine Scientific, Yutaka Yamaguchi, said in a statement. “The additional production capacity will ensure we meet the projected demand for cell culture media from our customers worldwide.”
