Aldevron, a contract provider specializing in the production of nucleic acids, proteins, and antibodies, has announced expansion plans for a new 14-acre campus for gene and cell therapy manufacturing at its headquarters in Fargo, North Dakota. Phase I of the construction will begin in August 2019. Upon completion, the company says that its annual capacity will be able to make products exceeding $1 billion of plasmid DNA, RNA, gene-editing enzymes, and other biologics.

One of the new two-story buildings is expected to increase Aldevron’s GMP and GMP-Source production capacity up to 10 times its current output. The company’s GMP-Source plasmid DNA can be used as an ancillary or critical raw material for producing protein and viral candidates used in clinical trials. The first building will be 189,000 square feet and fully operational by the first quarter of 2021. In total, three new buildings will be built over the next three to five years.

Plans further include adding 20,000 square-feet of additional quality control and product storage space to Aldevron’s current 70,000 square-foot GMP and GMP-Source manufacturing building, a plasmid DNA manufacturing facility, which opened in September 2018.

The new campus will also enable large-scale production of products, such as nanoplasmids and minicircles. The second building will be 89,000 square feet for administrative space and a client visit center, and the third building of 96,000 square feet, will house research and development, technical operations, and a training center. Total square footage will be nearly 0.5 million, enough to employ about 1,000 people.

The company currently employs more than 350 people across its current global network in Fargo, Madison, Wisconsin, and Freiburg, Germany. 

Source: Aldevron