CDMO Biovectra boosts Canada mRNA capabilities

Biovectra, in partnership with the Governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island (PEI), has opened a 36,000 square-foot facility as a part of its a $90 million expansion. 

Announced in November 2021, the facility specializes in messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), plasma deoxyribonucleic acid (pDNA), and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation. According to the firm, the facility has amped vaccine and therapeutic production capacity by 160 million doses per year, and fill/finish capacity by 70 million doses per year.  

The expansion, which took 18 months to complete, aims to enhance patient care by supporting mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.

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“This expansion places Biovectra at the forefront of supporting the next generation of treatments for today’s rare and incurable diseases and producing vaccines to tackle future pandemics. Today also marks a milestone in the accelerated growth of Atlantic Canada’s bioscience sector and celebrates the creation of highly skilled careers in life sciences,” said Oliver Technow, CEO for  Biovectra. 

The partnership invested $49.8 million of the total project cost ($79.6 million) to support the opening of the facility at Charlottetown, PEI, and expansion of Biovectra’s facilities in Windsor and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. 

Additionally, the combined 27,000 square foot facilities at Dartmouth and Windsor includes specialized process development science laboratories, whereas the latter also received a single-use biologics fermentation suite. 

The expansion has created 125 jobs at the Charlottetown facility along with 225 in Nova Scotia. 

In 2019, the firm received a $135 million grant from the Canadian government to expand microbial fermentation sites in PEI and Nova Scotia. 

Biovectra did not respond when contacted by this publication.