Avantor Launches New Innovation Center in New Jersey to Tackle Challenges in Life Sciences

On Nov. 14, 2024, Avantor, a provider of mission-critical products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries, announced the opening of its new flagship Bridgewater Innovation Center in Bridgewater, NJ. The state-of-the-art R&D facility spans 60,000 square feet and is part of the company’s network of 13 research and innovation centers globally.

The expanded facility doubles the company’s previous laboratory and pilot plant capacity and was purpose-designed to enable collaborative work. The center houses spaces for upstream and downstream process development, dedicated analytical testing labs, and a viral vector laboratory. It also houses an expanded pilot plant that supports scale-up simulations, which is intended to enable rapid customization across the entire bioprocessing workflow, according to a company press release.

“Our new Bridgewater Innovation Center is twice the size of our previous facility and adds capacity, talent, and capabilities to support the growing demands for monoclonal antibodies [mAbs], cell and gene therapy [CGT], and mRNA [messenger RNA] workflows,” said Michael Stubblefield, president and CEO of Avantor, in the press release. “Working side-by-side with customers in our network of innovation centers across the globe enables us to power science at every step to deliver life-changing therapies faster and more cost effectively.”

The center gives Avantor the capabilities to optimize and accelerate biomanufacturing processes at scale. Advantages include faster problem solving, streamlined knowledge exchange, and strategic co-innovation. The facility is staffed with PhD scientists, bioengineers, biologists, and process engineers, which enhances capacity and expertise to support customers' needs. As stated in the press release, “The facility also supports Avantor’s sustainability goals, reinforcing the [c]ompany’s commitment to environmental responsibility.”

The center is aimed at helping biopharmaceutical companies accelerate the development of vital therapies across multiple modalities, including mAbs, CGTs, and protein/peptide therapeutics. Expansive collaboration spaces built throughout the facility allow scientists, biologists, and bioengineers to work side-by-side with biopharma manufacturers. These collaborations leverage the company’s advanced products, real-time analytical data, and process knowledge to optimize processes and materials. Having this co-development environment saves crucial time and resources, according to the company in the press release.

In an interview with BioPharm International® (1), Benoit Gourdier, executive vice-president and head, Bioscience Production Segment, Avantor, noted how the pace of innovation in biopharma has been posing challenges, particularly in relation to which platform technology to use. “This is something where we’re seeing a fast evolution. From that perspective, at Avantor we are agnostic because we can provide product, solutions, technologies, platforms, support, and this innovation center is a good example. No matter the modality, we have a solution for the players,” Gourdier said in the interview.

Nandu Deorkar, senior vice-president, Bioscience Production Research & Development, Avantor, also spoke in the interview and pointed out that, because of the shift to personalized medicine manufacturing, there will be more distributed manufacturing. “If you look at the cell and gene therapy [space], [patients] will be treated on a personal basis, so there will be more distributed manufacturing on a local basis; so how do we support this geographically?” Deorkar said in the interview (1).

Meanwhile, the anticipated flood of new biotherapeutic modalities onto the market in the near future aimed at precision treatment is expected to open up many new opportunities for service providers, Gourdier said in the interview (1).

Reference

1. Mirasol, F. Avantor Geared for Biopharma Industry’s Future with Next-Generation Biotherapeutics. BioPharmInternational.com, Nov. 14, 2024.

Source: Avantor