Rentschler Biopharma plans to expand and upgrade the manufacturing site at the family-owned CDMO’s headquarters in Laupheim, Germany, with the addition of a buffer media station.
Although financial details of the project weren’t disclosed, the company said in an Oct. 24 press release the 34,000-square-meter expansion will allow for the addition of a four-story buffer media station. Rentschler plans to add three media tanks and six buffer tanks that will be used to mix solid substances (solutes) and liquids (solvents) to produce a uniform solution for drug compounds, the company said.
Construction is slated to begin by spring 2025 and the expansion should be fully operational by 2028.
“While our focus remains on strengthening global partnerships, this investment in our German site plays a crucial role in ensuring supply chain reliability and advancing our long-term growth strategy,” Benedikt von Braunmühl, Rentschler’s chief executive, said in a release.
The new facility will be incorporated into Rentschler's "in-house" logistics and piping system to enable the CDMO to efficiently move its projects through the various stages of drug manufacturing.
News of the expansion comes a little more than 3 months after Rentschler announced that its Milford, Massachusetts, facility became fully operational in July. That site now includes 22,000 square feet of clean room space and four new 2,000-liter bioreactors.
Rentschler acquired the Milford facility—its entry into the U.S. market—from Shire in 2019. The CDMO also operates a third facility in Stevenage in the U.K. that focuses on advanced medicines such as cell and gene therapies.