Catalent says it will invest up to $40 million to fit its 80,000 square-foot Durham, North Caroline facility with automation and digitization capabilities.

Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent will establish a biologics analytical center in North Carolina’s Research Triangle (RTP) to provide its clients with standalone testing for biologic drug modalities, cell and gene therapies, and analytical development.

“The new Durham facility, which was already purpose-built as laboratory space, will first need to be fitted out to meet the needs of our clients, but will support the growing demand of standalone analytical development and testing for both traditional biologics and advanced modalities, such as antibody-drug conjugates, cell and gene therapies and mRNA vaccines,” Jeremie Trochu, Catalent’s division head for BioAnalytics told BioProcess Insider.

DepositPhotos/Feverpitch

The firm expects the expansion to complete by mid-2023 and claims it will offer comprehensive solutions such as physcio-chemical testing, full product and process characterization, stability testing, in-process manufacturing and formulation analysis, post-packaging identification, and bioassays.

“This new facility will be a centre of excellence for biologics analytical services on the East Coast,” said Trochu.

He continued: “In addition to providing clients with standalone analytical solutions for their traditional and advanced modalities, including cell and gene therapies, the new Durham facility will also support other sites within the Catalent network, and in particular our drug substance site in Madison, Wisconsin, gene therapy network in Baltimore, Maryland, and our flagship drug product site in Bloomington, Indiana.”

200+ hires

According to Catalent, the expansion will result in the need to hire more than 200 scientists and technicians over the next five years. The CDMO says that the location “has a strong reputation within the life science sector and provides a large pool of technical and scientific talent.”

Additionally, to meet its hiring goals: “Catalent will offer competitive compensation, including benefits and health and wellness packages, and will collaborate with local organisations such as North Carolina Biotechnology Center to identify and help attract the right talent in the area. We are already planning career fairs in 2023 to help provide more details about our open positions and the benefits that go along with them,” Trochu said,

The firm recently opened doors at its 60,000 square-foot dedicated manufacturing facility in Gosselies, Belgium.