Gene therapy demand drives VGXI to up Texan GMP capabilities
The contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) – a subsidiary of South Korean DNA vaccine developer GeneOne Life Science – is expanding its site in Texas by 5,000 sq ft, increasing its cGMP manufacturing space by over 70%. Financial details have not been divulged.
The new capabilities come as a response to growing demand for gene therapy products, business development manager Christy Franco told Biopharma-Reporter.
“Specifically plasmid raw material for viral vector production such as for AAV based products and CAR-T cell therapies.”
The expansion includes two new flexible-use GMP production facilities, she added “designed to have flexible capacity in terms of production scale, as we have had more demand for smaller scale projects.”
Once complete VGXI will have the capability to manufacture plasmid DNA from 10L to 500L fermentation scale, she continued, offering production from preclinical to full GMP. “The current expansion will increase our capacity to handle multiple projects within this range.”
VGXI’s expansion is the latest in a list of recent investments by CMOs looking to feed the demand for cell and gene therapy services.
Fujifilm recently opened an 80,000 sq ft plant in Texas to make commercial gene therapies, while Paragon Bioservices announced a 150,000 sq ft biomanufacturing facility in Maryland.
Furthermore Lonza is planning a grand opening of their new cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility this April in Pearland, TX. Construction is complete for 100,000 sq. ft. and an expansion with an additional 150,000 sq. ft. is already in progress.
Meanwhile Eurogentec announced in January a new facility for large scale production of biopharmaceuticals, and Brammer Bio announced in September itcompleted an expansion for cell and gene therapy clinical manufacturing facilities in Florida.
