With the focus of many companies on developing new cancer drugs using antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), contractor ADC Biotechnology is moving quickly to get a manufacturing facility built in Wales to produce its new ADCs.
The U.K. biotech said today that it has a contract with engineering firm WHP to build it $11 million, 21,325-square-foot facility at its site in Deeside, North Wales. The first phase is expected to be completed by December of 2018 and will support the production of all clinical phases and small-scale commercial manufacture of its ADCs.
RELATED: ADC Biotech to build $11M bioconjugation facility in Wales
The dual stream bioconjugation facility will include R&D technical services, quality control, QA, warehousing, and process development through to manufacturing. That will occupy only 50% of the unit’s footprint so the company can scale up quickly as needed, it said when it announced its plans recently.
ADC’s investment is small compared to what some drugmakers are putting into their own facilities. Earlier this year, Daiichi Sankyo said it would invest about $135 million to build and refurbish manufacturing lines at three of the company’s plants in Japan to produce antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).