Agilent to invest $150m for expansion of Frederick production facility in US

Agilent Technologies has announced an investment of up to $150m to expand its production facility for nucleic acid-based therapeutics in the US.

Situated in Frederick of Colorado, the advanced facility is engaged in the development and manufacturing of oligos that are short DNA and RNA molecules used for the creation of nucleic acid-based therapeutics.

Oligos are said to have the potential for the development of treatments for cancer, Covid-19, cardiovascular disease, rare and infectious diseases, and other conditions.

The latest investment enables the company to add 25,000ft² of manufacturing capacity to the Frederick facility.

The expansion will help Agilent to double the current capacity for the production of therapeutic oligos at the Frederick site.

Agilent is anticipating that the supplier market for therapeutic oligos to exceed $750m in 2025, as well as predicted to register double-digit annual growth over the next five years.

Agilent is adding the higher-volume manufacturing line to better meet the growing demand from major pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

The new manufacturing line is expected to support customer shipments by the end of 2022.

The new capacity will also help the company to expand its operations in Colorado, where the company has also been managing another oligo manufacturing site in nearby Boulder since 2006.

Agilent’s diagnostics and genomics group president Sam Raha said: “We are excited about the ongoing growth of the therapeutic oligo market and the continued strong interest in our oligo contract development and manufacturing organisation services from existing and potential new customers.

“Adding this higher-volume line enables us to keep pace with demand while continuing to deliver a premium product with superior customer service. As a leading oligo manufacturer for more than 20 years, Agilent is uniquely qualified to support this critical and growing biopharma industry segment.”

In September 2015, Agilent agreed to acquire Seahorse Bioscience, which provides instruments and assay kits for measuring cell metabolism and bioenergetics.