Fujifilm, Merck Partner on $60M Microbial Biologics Facility

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a global biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), said that it is in the process of establishing a long-term collaboration with Merck to invest in and operate a new 20,000 liter large-scale microbial-biologics facility for supply of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to its customers.

This collaboration involves a $60 million investment by Merck at its Brinny manufacturing plant in Innishannon, County Cork, Ireland. Merck in Brinny has been in operation for more than 30 years and is an integrated site for the development, testing and manufacturing of biologics.

It is intended that the large-scale biologics operations at Merck in Brinny will be operational in early 2018 for biotech and pharma customers of Fujifilm Diosynth.

The deal addresses a market need for large-scale microbial biologics manufacturing and complements Fujifilm Diosynth’s existing microbial capacity that ranges from 100L up to 5000L both in the U.S. and UK.

According to the company, microbial fermentation remains vital technology for the process of manufacturing biologics, and this investment, drawing on the latest production advances, will enable Fujifilm Diosynth’s existing and future customers to have a clear and secure line-of-sight to higher product volumes along with lower cost-of-goods. The latter is particularly important as products enter late clinical phase and commercialization.