French CDMO Novasep says with so many of its customers developing orphan and targeted biopharmaceutical drugs, it needs to expand its fill-finish capacity. That has led it to start on a facility at its site in Seneffe, Belgium to handle low-volume biologics like viral vectors and mAbs.
The Lyon, France-based Novasep recently said it will invest €10 million ($11.9 million) to construct the facility. It will be able to fill 20,000 to 30,000 vials per week.
“The trend towards targeted therapies has created a growing need for specialized capacities,” Jean Bléhaut, Novasep’s president of manufacturing, said in a statement. “In response, Novasep has launched a series of major projects to boost its biomanufacturing services for selected types of drug substances and fill and finish activities.”
The fill-finish facility is the third expansion project Novasep has announced in recent months as it moves toward doubling its manufacturing capacity by 2022. It is also building a €27 million commercial scale viral vector production facility at Seneffe that is slated to be qualified by the first quarter of 2019.
A €17 million clinical scale mAb production facility in Pompey, France, is slated to commissioned in the second half of 2019.