Bio-Techne to invest up to $50m for GMP protein production facility

Published: 1-Nov-2019

E. coli-derived recombinant proteins are an essential component for many bioprocessing and cell therapy manufacturing workflows

Bio-Techne has announced a commitment to invest between US$40 million and $50 million to expand its GMP-grade protein production capacity. This investment will fund a new facility that is specifically dedicated to supporting the large-scale production of GMP-grade materials, including E. coli-derived recombinant proteins, which are an essential component for many bioprocessing and cell therapy manufacturing workflows.

Cell and gene therapies show great promise for the future of disease treatment. The escalating number of clinical trials utilising CAR-T cell-, hematopoietic stem cell-, mesenchymal stem cell- or pluripotent stem cell-based products emphasises the need for the rapid global expansion of protein manufacturing.

Dave Eansor, President of Bio-Techne's Protein Sciences Segment, said: "As the promising science behind emerging cell and gene therapy applications continues to demonstrate therapeutic effectiveness, the focus must now be on supply and scale."

The current supply for cell therapy production and industrial large molecule manufacturing is not sufficient to meet future demands

"By investing in a new GMP facility, therapeutic manufacturers can be assured that the highly pure, bioactive R&D Systems GMP-grade proteins they rely on for their manufacturing process will continue to be available as their raw material demands increase through clinical trial, approval, and therapeutic commercialisation," added Eansor.

The current global GMP-grade raw material supply for cell therapy production and industrial large molecule manufacturing is not sufficient to meet future demands. By investing in a new state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility, Bio-Techne is anticipating and preparing for the growing demand of such raw material to support the recent and forecasted surge in Investigational New Drug (IND) filings for autologous and allogeneic cell therapies.

This corporate infrastructure investment complements the 30-year history of Bio-Techne's R&D Systems brand in recombinant protein manufacturing.

Chuck Kummeth, President and CEO of Bio-Techne, said: "The recent success of cell and gene therapies is very exciting. This investment solidifies our commitment to supporting the future of these new modalities by finding innovative and reliable ways to help companies gain access to scalable quantities and a reliable supply of high-quality, GMP-grade growth factors and cytokines for their manufacturing processes."

The investment in a new GMP facility is the latest announcement supporting Bio-Techne's cell and gene therapy initiative. To learn more, please visit bio-techne.com.

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