IDT to expand the U.S. manufacturing facility it got from Aeras

When German CMO IDT Biologika struck a deal several months ago with Aeras to take over the U.S. manufacturing facility of the nonprofit biotech, it said that expansion of the facility was in order. Now IDT will kick off that effort with an event to dedicate its first U.S. manufacturing site.

A spokesman for IDT said the company took over manufacturing from Aeras at the Rockville, MD, facility last week. The two companies are sharing the facility, with IDT leasing about half of the 75,000-square-foot site. It will invest about $3 million in what it expects to be annual upgrades at the facility. He said IDT expects to grow employment to more than 80 over the next few years from the 53 who work there now.

Aeras and IDT announced a deal in June that would allow the nonprofit to focus its resources on TB vaccine development and give IDT a U.S. manufacturing operation. When the deal was announced, IDT CEO Ralf Pfirmann said his company was already expanding its vaccine business through global partnerships, and this one was a logical move. It said that Aeras' contract manufacturing activities complemented IDT's work, while giving IDT's vaccine business pipeline a boost. Aeras saw it as a way to expand its vaccine offerings.

IDT Biologika is part of the Klocke Group, owned by the Klocke family. In 2013, it invested €40 million in its vaccine and parenteral sterile fill-and-finish capacities in IDT's BioPharmaPark in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany.

- here's the earlier announcement