AES says it will be able to meet current and future cleanroom demand through the construction of a facility in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,

AES Clean Technology, a provider of cleanroom facilities within the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry said the facility will expand its production capabilities to match industry growth, especially for clients responsible for the production of COVID-19 treatments and advanced bio-therapeutics.

“We see several factors that are driving the decision to add this new capacity. There is a real need for more vaccine production, whether at native manufacturing sources or CMOs, driving cleanroom facility creation,” Grant Merrill, CEO of AES Clean Technology told BioProcess Insider.

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“We also see rapid developments in a number of areas around personalized medicine and advanced therapies creating demand in the cleanroom space. There has been significant growth in investment from academia, healthcare systems and throughout private industry to support advancement in new treatment types that have not been possible until now. More facilities and capabilities are needed for the production of these transformational therapies.”

AES said cleanrooms are required in a wide range of scientific environments and its customers range from “the largest vaccine producers in the world, to experimental and investigational entities, in business and academia.” Additionally, contract development manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) like Incog Biopharma, Avid Bioservices, and Theragent have recently used its services.

97 jobs

As part of the construction, AES claims it will renovate buildings, buy the latest production technologies to manufacture its cleanroom products, and create 97 full-time jobs.

To recruit in the current climate, Merrill said AES has partnered with the Comonwealth of Pennsylvania “to invest in training a workforce that will be ready for the future,” adding “the processes we will use require a great deal of fabrication skill and a real understanding of the unique requirements of cleanroom systems.”

The company will keep the existing 95 jobs at its headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland and anticipates the Pennsylvania facility to come online in phases during 2022 and beyond.