This facility, located in Seneffe (Belgium), will strengthen Novasep's drug product services for mAbs, viral vectors and other low volume biopharmaceuticals
LYON, France, May 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/—Novasep, a leading supplier of services and technologies for the life sciences industry, announces a €10M investment in a commercial fill & finish facility for viral vectors, mAbs and other low-volume biologics. The facility will be located in Seneffe (Belgium) and will be operational in H2 2019.
Fill & finish operations are critical to ensure the safety and efficacy of a drug. This step involves filling biologics into containers under aseptic conditions and is the final part of the biopharmaceutical manufacturing process, after upstream bioprocessing (cell culture) and downstream processing (purification).
The new Novasep plant will feature a fill & finish suite with state of the art filling equipment and isolators. It will deliver up to 10 000 vials per session, with 2 to 3 sessions per week. In line with its strategic development plan, the investment will allow Novasep to respond to the strong market demand for orphan and targeted biopharmaceutical drugs as clinical pipelines mature.
This project is part of Novasep's Rise-2 strategic growth cycle. It complements a €27M investment in a new commercial scale viral vector production facility in Seneffe (Belgium) that will be fully qualified by Q1 2019, and a €17M investment in a dedicated cGMP clinical scale mAb production facility that will be located in Pompey (France) and will be commissioned in H2 2019.
"The trend towards targeted therapies has created a growing need for specialized capacities," said Jean Bléhaut, President of Novasep's Manufacturing Solutions Business Unit, "In response, Novasep has launched a series of major projects to boost its biomanufacturing services for selected types of drug substances and Fill & Finish activities."
Dr. Michel Spagnol, Novasep's Chairman and CEO, added: "After the €17M investment in our mAb production facility and the €27M investment in gene therapy production, this is the third investment that we announce to support the strong development of innovative therapies. With this third investment, Novasep furthers its engagement to the RISE-2 strategic plan aimed at doubling the company's size by 2022."
SOURCE Novasep
