BioVectra Inc. announced its fourth cGMP facility will be fully operational by December 2017. The late-stage to commercial-scale microbial fermentation and complex chemistry facility is located in Windsor, Nova Scotia, with proximity and service to Northeast USA development entities.
BioVectra’s $30 million investment has equipped the 50,000 square-foot facility with 40,000 liters of fermentation capacity, downstream processing equipment and new pre-clinical fermentation and potent chemistry suites. “The investment strengthens our unique position in the very competitive global marketplace, enabling us to offer new and existing clients range of scale throughout the entire lifecycle of a product,” Oliver Technow, BioVectra’s President said.
The new facility is an investment in BioVectra’s core development and manufacturing competencies: microbial fermentation and complex chemistries. As an industry leader in microbial fermentation of both small and large molecules, the company provides scalable cGMP operations from 30 L to 17,000 L. BioVectra has the capability to handle the development and cGMP scale-up of high-potency active pharmaceutical ingredients, handling potent substances such as antibody-drug conjugate warheads, with occupational exposure limit levels of < 20 ng/m3 (Safebridge Band 3 and 4).
The new facility increases BioVectra’s ability to partner with global pharmaceutical companies by offering dual-site risk mitigation. “This expansion helps BioVectra keep up with the growing demand for our products, while also meeting an underserved need for large-scale microbial fermentation in North America,” Heather Delage, Vice President of Business Development said. “In addition to the facility’s large-scale fermentation capability, the site also offers a complementary footprint for synthetic process development and laboratory-based activities.”