Cytiva and Pall Corporation investing 1.5 billion USD over two years to meet growing demand for biotechnology solutions
- Major investments are expanding manufacturing capacity for life sciences products at 13 Cytiva and Pall Corporation sites helping to meet customer demand.
- New sites opening in US and UK to realize regional manufacturing models. Overall, the companies plan to hire 2000 full-time associates over the next two years.
- Investment follows five strategic acquisitions made by the companies this year and is in addition to Cytiva’s continuing capacity investments estimated at 500 million USD through 2022.
An ongoing strategic growth plan from Cytiva and Pall Corporation, part of the Danaher (NYSE: DHR) Corporation, will expand manufacturing capacity and services across geographies for global life sciences customers.
The investment, already underway, includes new sites, expansion at existing factories, and is additional to previously announced investments. It follows five acquisitions made by the companies so far this year.
Emmanuel Ligner, Danaher Group Executive, says: “Our customers tell us they need access to manufacturing agility, a robust global supply chain and more regional options. This investment further fuels our expansion program so we can rapidly meet the current and future needs of our customers and ultimately, their patients.”
Cytiva and Pall Corporation’s capacity expansion will increase the manufacture of key products used to make biologic medicines.
The companies are investing:
- 600+ million USD in chromatography resins – media for analyzing or purifying biomolecules – establishing a new manufacturing site in the US.
- 400+ million USD in cell culture media – in liquid or powder form this is used to grow and cultivate cells before they are purified– expand operations in the US, UK, and Austria.
- 300+ million USD in single-use technologies – including bioreactor bags for growing cells used to make personalized medicines and syringe filters for scientific research – expand operations in the US and the UK, as well as fitting out a new facility in Cardiff, Wales.
- 200+ million USD for continuing expansion work in Cytiva and Pall Corporation’s sites across China and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the US.
This investment also addresses some of the key challenges highlighted in the Global Biopharma Resilience Index, conducted by Longitude, a Financial Times company, and published by Cytiva in March 2021. These include hiring and training talent, R&D collaboration, supply chain resilience, manufacturing models, as well as government policy and regulation.
Rapid expansion program
Funds are being allocated to accelerate capacity expansion plans already underway at 13 Pall Corporation and Cytiva sites making biotechnology products for COVID-19 and other critical programs.
For example, production of cell culture media at Cytiva’s site in Logan, Utah is planned to double in 2023. This will be done by converting 25,000 m2 of land into new manufacturing lines, distribution hubs, and clean rooms as well as creating 250 new jobs locally. Combined with the acquisition of Intermountain Life Sciences, a manufacturer of liquid cell culture media and buffers, customers being supplied out of Logan will see shorter lead times in delivery of those products.
Additionally, investments at Pall sites in Newquay, UK, Pensacola, FL, and San Diego, CA have increased capacity to make and deliver membrane and filter products.
The 1.5 billion USD investment follows Cytiva’s announcement in 2020 to spend 500 million USD building capacity. The investment has already funded a new manufacturing facility in Shrewsbury, MA and a new cleanroom in Westborough, MA in the US. A new cell and gene therapy manufacturing site and Center of Excellence is scheduled to open in Switzerland in 2022.
As part of today’s investment, Pall Corporation will expand single-use manufacturing operations in China at the site of recently acquired Austar. Plans are also underway to expand Cytiva’s partnership with Wego in China to build more single-use technology manufacturing capacity for the region. Both companies plan for further regional investment in the future.
New facilities
A new 11,000 m2 facility in Cardiff, Wales, is being fitted out to manufacture single-use bioprocessing equipment including jumper tubing assemblies, cell bags, and ÄKTA flow kits. The first products are expected to be manufactured at this site before the end of 2021. A local hiring drive has begun to fill 250 new jobs over the next two years, primarily in manufacturing, as well as warehouse operators, material handlers, and R&D scientists.
The vision for the new US facility is to replicate and complement Cytiva’s leading resin manufacturing capabilities at its site in Uppsala, Sweden. The location of the new site will be announced at a later date. Cytiva plans to hire 400 people in the US and Sweden over the next two years to facilitate expansion plans.
Investing in talent
Overall, the companies are planning to hire 2000 people over the next two years to support growth. This is additional to the 2000 new associates hired by Cytiva and Pall Corporation over the last year.
The approach considers the well-established skills gap in the biotechnology industry. For example, training for manufacturing roles will involve intensive on-site courses. Onboarding for highly technical roles will leverage Cytiva’s FastTrak centers and online training designed in partnership with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) in Dublin, Ireland.
Acquiring automation and digital capabilities
Supporting the biotechnology industry through rapid growth requires access to innovative technologies as well as manufacturing capacity.
Ligner says: “We envision a world in which access to life-changing therapies transforms human health. Our investments and acquisitions are about building capacity and the therapeutic development workflow to advance and accelerate the work of our customers.”
Recent acquisitions by Pall Corporation and Cytiva include:
- Vanrx Pharmasystems, Canada (Acquired by Cytiva in February 2021) Drug product aseptic filling solutions which automate the preparation of small batches of biologic medicines, well suited to the manufacture of cell and gene therapies.
- Austar, China (Acquired by Pall in March 2021) Additional single-use technology manufacturing capabilities in China to help meet need for regional vaccine manufacturing, driven by COVID-19.
- GoSilico, Germany (Acquired by Cytiva in June 2021) Mechanistic modelling software to create “digital twin” simulations of downstream bioprocessing steps for more efficient chromatography and drug manufacturing process development.
- Precision NanoSystems, Canada (Acquired by Pall in June 2021) Manufacturing and development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of genetic medicines, including mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.
- Intermountain Life Sciences (Acquired by Cytiva in June 2021) A new fully-operational manufacturing site in Logan, Utah will rapidly boost liquid cell culture media production by millions of liters.
Ligner concludes: “For example, we can now help our customers take a new therapeutic from idea to injection, starting with discovery, through process development, to large-scale manufacturing. I know I speak on behalf of our growing and passionate team when I say we are deeply proud of our efforts to bring benefits to patients around the world.”
Learn more: Read the industry insights uncovered in Cytiva’s Biopharma Resilience Index. Explore Pall Corporation’s Biotech Solutions.
About Pall
Pall Corporation is a filtration, separation and purification leader providing solutions to meet the critical fluid management needs of customers across the broad spectrum of life sciences and industry. Part of the Danaher (NYSE: DHR) family of science and technology innovators, Pall works with customers to advance health, safety and environmentally responsible technologies. The Company’s engineered products enable process and product innovation and minimize emissions and waste. Pall Corporation serves customers worldwide. For more information visit www.pall.com.
About Cytiva
Cytiva is a global life sciences leader with more than 8,000 associates across 40 countries dedicated to advancing and accelerating therapeutics. Part of the Danaher (NYSE: DHR) family of science and technology innovators, Cytiva is a trusted partner to customers that range in scale and scope, Cytiva brings speed, efficiency and capacity to research and manufacturing workflows, enabling the development, manufacture and delivery of transformative medicines to patients. For more information visit www.cytiva.com.
Media contact:
Dodi Axelson
Dodi.axelson@cytiva.com