Less than two months ago, Hitachi Chemicals' regenerative medicines business adopted the name Minaris to boost brand recognition as a global cell and gene therapy CDMO. Fresh off the rebrand, the company is now throwing down a total of $64.5 million to boost its offerings in Europe and Asia.
First up, Minaris Regenerative Medicine will pump $40.7 million into a new facility near its existing site in Ottobrunn, near Munich.
The roughly 71,580-square-foot building will focus on clinical and commercial manufacturing, plus development services for cell and gene therapies, and is expected to more than double Minaris' existing European capacity through the addition of clean rooms, quality control labs, warehousing, cryo-storage and office space, the company said in a release.
Pegged to come online in early 2023, the facility will also allow for additional clean room expansions, which could eventually triple the company's clean room capacity, Minaris said.
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Meanwhile, Minaris is also committing $23.8 million to a new Japanese facility adjacent to its existing site in Yokohama. The new facility will boost Minaris' Japanese footprint by about 43,056-square-feet and will double the CDMO's capacity for commercial manufacturing of regenerative medicines.
Operations are scheduled to start at the new building in October 2022. Minaris' investment in the Japanese facility is part of a strategy to establish a center for cancer immunotherapy and somatic stem cells, the company added.
It's been a busy year for Minaris. The European, Japanese and North American regenerative medicines businesses of Hitachi Chemical rebranded in September, adopting the Minaris moniker across the board in a bid to strengthen brand recognition as a global CDMO, Kazuchika Furuishi, CEO of Minaris, said in a release.
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Meanwhile, Hitachi Chemical itself rebranded to Showa Denko Materials in early October after it was acquired by the Japanese chemical company Showa Denko K.K in April.
Plus, Minaris in January kicked off operations at a new cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility in Allendale, New Jersey, more than doubling its production capacity in the state. The facility aims to hire 500 employees over the next several years to reach full operational capacity, CEO of Hitachi Chemicals Advanced Therapeutics Solutions and general manager of the company's regenerative medicines business, Robert Preti, said at the time.