ADC Biotech to build $11M bioconjugation facility in Wales

ADC Biotechnology, a Welsh company specializing in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) contract services, said it will invest $11 million to build a new facility in Deeside, North Wales.

The 21,325-square-foot facility is expected to be completed by December of 2018 and will support the production of all clinical phases and small-scale commercial manufacture of ADCs. The new facility is part of ADC Biotech’s plan to enhance its technical services business that provides small-scale R&D through to preclinical testing.

The company’s aggregation control platform is designed to help overcome aggregation challenges from the more complex, potent and hydrophobic payloads increasingly coming through discovery and development. ADC Biotech’s Lock-Release technology immobilizes protein elements, keeping them separated until they are conjugated, which provides much cleaner drug products, the company said.

“For many of the newer types of payload this could well be the difference between a viable product and not,” Charlie Johnson, ADC Biotech’s chief executive, said in a statement. “We are already preparing for future phases of development and the medium-term manufacturing pipeline for the business looks extremely strong.”

The new dual-stream bioconjugation facility will give ADC Biotech a suite of capabilities ranging from R&D technical services, quality control, QA, warehousing, and process development through to manufacturing, using just half of the unit’s footprint. The additional space can then be used to quickly ramp up from early clinical phases into late phase and commercial manufacturing at the same site.