FUJIFILM Corporation is investing $188 million in a cell culture media manufacturing facility in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
Teiichi Goto, president, CEO and representative director of the Japanese conglomerate, said in a news release that the 250,000-square-foot Wake County site in Research Triangle Park will be operated by FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, Inc., a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation.
FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific is “a world leader in the development and manufacture of advanced cell-culture solutions for life sciences research, bioproduction, cell therapy manufacturing, and medical applications.” The company says it’s building this new facility in North Carolina “to ensure that FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific can meet increasing market demands for high-quality cell culture media solutions.”
The company has not revealed the number of employees it expects to hire at its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in RTP, but it will use only a portion of the 64 acres it owns at the site, which leaves plenty of room for growth.
The site will support current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) production of animal-component-free dry powder and liquid media products. When fully operational, it will add production capacity for FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific of 800,000 kilograms a year for dry powder, 3.3 million liters a year for liquid and 40,000 liters a day of Water for Injection (WFI).
FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific says it has experienced rapid growth over the past decade and it expects demand for cell-culture media to support bioproduction and advanced therapies to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 10% to 12% through 2031.
To meet customer demand, the company says it will expand its capacity by building manufacturing facilities in biotech centers around the world, including in RTP.
“This strategy ensures a secure supply chain, and rapid, reliable delivery of products through the development of extensive regional supply networks, critical to supporting cell and gene therapies,” the company said in a news release.