FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Breaks Ground on Large-Scale Microbial Manufacturing Facility Expansion in Billingham, UK

BILLINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM– FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a world leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for biologics, vaccines, and advanced therapies, announced today the start of the expansion of its large-scale microbial manufacturing facility located at the Billingham, UK campus. The company held a small internal ceremony at the site on 6 September 2022.

To accommodate the increasing demand for FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ microbial development and manufacturing services, the expansion will include over 1858 square meter (20,000 sq. ft.) of modular clean room space, including two primary recovery and refolding suites, two purification suites and a column packing room. The new space is designed to maximize the emerging SymphonX™¹  technology for clinical and commercial manufacturing. Once the expansion is complete in late 2023/early 2024, the manufacturing capacity of the large-scale microbial production facility will increase by 70%.

“Through innovation and the utilization of high-throughput technologies, we continually strive to increase our renowned microbial process development services to complement our extensive manufacturing experience,” said Paul Found, chief operating officer at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, UK site. 

“Microbial expression technologies continue to be the pillar of the biologics industry, and FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will continue delivering industry leading titers from our proprietary pAVEway™ PLUS² expression system, and biomanufacturing excellence. This expansion will enable us to continue to fulfill our core purpose of advancing tomorrow’s medicines.”

This expansion is part of a previously announced £400 million planned investment package at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ UK site, to expand cell culture capabilities, viral vector and gene therapy services, and microbial production. The complete expansion is expected to create up to 350 highly-skilled jobs.

About FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, is a world-leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with experience in the development and manufacture of biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies. The company operates a global network with major locations in the Unites States of America, the United Kingdom and Denmark and it is building a new manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina, USA. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies has over thirty years of experience in the development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, among other large molecules, viral products and medical countermeasures expressed in a wide array of microbial, mammalian, and host/virus systems. The company offers a comprehensive list of services from cell line development using its proprietary pAVEway™ microbial and Apollo™X cell line systems to process development, analytical development, clinical and FDA-approved commercial manufacturing. Mitsubishi Corporation is a 20% shareholder of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ UK, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Watertown, Massachusetts and College Station, Texas sites.  For more information, go to: www.fujifilmdiosynth.com.

About FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation
FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, leverages its depth of knowledge and proprietary core technologies to deliver Value from Innovation in our products and services in the business segments of healthcare, materials, business innovation, and imaging. Our relentless pursuit of innovation is focused on providing social value and enhancing the lives of people worldwide. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information about Fujifilm’s Sustainable Value Plan 2030, click here. For the year ended March 31, 2022, the company had global revenues of approximately 2.5 trillion yen (21 billion $USD at an exchange rate of 122 yen/dollar). For more information, please visit: www.fujifilmholdings.com.

 ¹SymphonX™ is a single downstream bioprocess hardware solution to support both batch and continuous operations in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and increase efficiencies through standardising manufacturing operations.
 ²pAVEway ™ PLUS is FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ proven microbial technology platform for efficient microbial expression of proteins, using novel recombinant E. coli strains. This expression system offers industry-leading titers and a track record of more than 130 successfully expressed proteins. Development of a lead strain for recombinant protein expression can be achieved in as little as four weeks through the use of high-throughput, automated procedures.