Japanese medtech and imaging giant Fujifilm announced an investment of $1.2bn in its large-scale cell culture as it expands its North Carolina manufacturing facility adding 680 jobs to the site by 2031.
The expansion of Fujifilm’s contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) comes as part of a company-wide drive by Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies to build up its large-scale production capacity across the US and Europe. Part of the funds in this wave of investment will be used to develop a large-scale cell culture facility equipped with eight 20,000l mammalian cell culture bioreactors by 2028.
The new investment is also aimed at boosting the economy in its local area of Holly Springs , North Carolina. Facilitated in part by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by $4.7bn over the next 12 years.
Teiichi Goto, president of Fujifilm, said: “This investment is an important step to further accelerate the growth of our biopharmaceutical CDMO business. Fujifilm is committed to advancing a healthier society, and we are proud that our people and this site in Holly Springs will play a vital role in supporting our partners in producing critical therapies to serve the needs of patients.”
Fujifilm says that once the Holly Springs facility is complete it will be one of the largest cell culture biopharmaceutical CDMO facilities in North America, with the aim of expanding further with additional bioreactors to accommodate new projects for various sponsors.
Previously in 2023 Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies invested in its large-scale biologics production facility in Hillerod, Denmark with of $928m to double its existing drug substance manufacturing capacity in the EU.
Toshihisa Iida, corporate vice president of Fujifilm, added: “North Carolina continues to offer advantageous and well-established benefits specific to Fujifilm’s biomanufacturing business such as sustainable energy resources, infrastructure for future growth and a strong pool of technical talent.”
Elsewhere for Fujifilm, its Healthcare Americas subsidiary has secured 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new AI-based endoscopic imaging detection system, CAD EYE.
