Last month, Thermo Fisher Scientific said it was investing more than $250 million in its operations in the U.S. and Europe as well as in India, Argentina and China. Now, add the U.K. to the list.
The company today said it will invest nearly $24 million in its biologics site at Inchinnan, Scotland, to boost its ability to manufacture cell culture media. It said it expects to complete the work in 2021.
“This investment will expand capabilities and expertise at our existing cell culture manufacturing center of excellence in the UK to meet growing customer demand," Cory Stevenson, president of Thermo Fisher's bioproduction business, said in a statement.
Last month, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based operation said its 2019 capital expenditures would reach $270 million with investments in its fill-finish operations, distribution in Asia, South America and India and a virtual reality training center in Greenville, North Carolina.
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The company also paid $110 million for a GlaxoSmithKline API plant in Ireland, and the CDMO unit will open a viral vector plant later this year in the U.S.
The viral vector facility in Lexington, Massachusetts, is part of the $1.7 billion cash deal Thermo Fisher pulled off earlier this year for Brammer Bio, which gave Thermo Fisher an operation to play in the growing field for gene-modified cell therapies and in vivo gene therapies. The 50,000-square-foot plant will have 200 employees.
Other contractors are also building their capabilities in cell and gene therapies. Catalent Monday said it has launched a new technology it says can increase cell line productivity.