The investment will include new manufacturing lines and increased automation to deliver additional manufacturing capacity.
On Sept. 13, 2020, Cytiva, announced that it is investing $500 million over five years to expand its global manufacturing capacity. The company will also hire nearly 1000 personnel in key areas as part of its strategy to support long-term growth in the biotechnology industry.
The investment will include new manufacturing lines that incorporate single-use technologies, equipment, and infrastructure at multiple sites, as Cytiva's capacity to manufacture single-use products will more than double, according to a company press release. In Asia-Pacific, single-use capacity will triple through a partnership with Wego, a large healthcare technology supplier in China that is already producing consumables for Cytiva in the region.
Cell culture media production will increase as the result of new manufacturing lines, cleanroom space, personnel, and additional personnel shifts at the company’s site in Logan, UT. Further, the company’s locations in Singapore and Pasching, Austria, are increasing output through increased personnel and additional work shifts, following a tenfold increase in powdered cell culture media production announced in May 2018.
The manufacturing capacity of Cytiva's MabSelect and Capto chromatography product platforms has also doubled as part of a $70-million-per-year (2017–2022) investment in capacity gains and a facility modernization program at its Uppsala, Sweden, site. The Uppsala plant is now fully automated with the latest technology to allow for continuous manufacturing. Other elements of the Uppsala investment include a capacity extension of Sephadex resin, which sets up additional facilities for in-house manufacturing, and the development of automation and digitalization infrastructure.
Cytiva is also investing in a new facility in Grens, Switzerland, to manufacture single-use kits for its Sepax and Sefia cell processing systems for the cell and gene therapy market.
"We know from our customers that availability and lead time are the most important considerations after quality. Cytiva's long-term commitment is to deliver the best product, at the right time, and support our customers with expertise. The industry is growing rapidly, now even more due to COVID-19. Accelerating this investment will reinforce these commitments,” said Emmanuel Ligner, president and CEO, Cytiva, in the press release. "Dual manufacturing assures our customers that if one location encounters capacity constraints, we have plenty of back-up ready to activate."
Source: Cytiva