Fujifilm commits $928m to expand biologics facility in Denmark

Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm has plans to invest approximately $928m to expand its large-scale biologics production facility in Denmark.

The facility belongs to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) for biologics and advanced therapies.

Fujifilm expects the capital investment to double the Denmark site’s existing drug substance manufacturing capacity and will boost its capabilities to include fill / finish.

In addition, the investment will improve its existing assembly, labelling and packaging services. It will also add six mammalian cell bioreactors to expand manufacturing lines for bulk drug substance.

The additional bioreactors will increase the total to 12 x 20,000lt bioreactors by 2023, which will make the Denmark facility one of the major large-scale manufacturing plants in the bio-CDMO industry.

Furthermore, the company plans to add the facility’s first fill / finish production line, which will include a fully-automated system that can produce up to about 35 million units per annum for large-scale production.

In 2022, the company will add a new packaging line with facilities to assemble different types of auto-injectors, along with automatic labelling.

Fujifilm executive vice-president and bio-CDMO division general manager Takatoshi Ishikawa said: “Since the acquisition of the Denmark site last year, the facility’s strong manufacturing track-record, coupled with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ technologies enabling a stable supply of high-quality biopharmaceuticals, has led to new orders not only from existing clients but also new clients, contributing to our rapid business expansion.”

Fujifilm acquired the Denmark site from Biogen in August last year for around $890m.

The Denmark site has supported various collaborations, including the recent partnership for future manufacturing capacity reservation by the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator.

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies CEO Martin Meeson said: “With the addition of world-class assets enabling us to scale production volumes to fit both small and large batches, the capital infusion allows us to deliver on our promise to support our partners from pre-clinical through to commercialisation.”