Resilience steps out of North America to build UAE facility

Resilience has signed a deal with its investor Mubadala Investment Company PJSC to establish a secure supply chain and will construct a facility in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Under the terms of the deal, Abu Dhabi sovereign investment firm Mubadala will be responsible for the build-out of the manufacturing facility. However, the plant will be operated by National Resilience to produce specific biopharmaceutical-related products in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“As many other governments across the globe, Mubadala has recognized the importance of pandemic preparedness due to COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, with this collaboration, Mubadala is seeking to address a critical domestic infrastructure need and establish a local biomanufacturing supply chain,” a spokesperson for Resilience told BioProcess Insider.

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This is the first-time contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Resilience will operate outside of North America and once complete, the facility will manufacture a wide range of therapeutics and vaccines for illnesses such as cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Furthermore, the Abu Dhabi plant would be the first Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) site in the region to produce life sciences products for advanced biologics.

Over the past two years, Mubadala has invested in multiple rounds of equity financing in Resilience. We do not disclose the amount invested by any individual investors, but the Mubadala investment is included in the aggregate round sizes that we have previously announced,” the spokesperson said.

“In addition to investment into Resilience, Mubadala will be fully funding the construction of the facility and providing loan to cover the initial working capital investment. Financial details are not going to be disclosed.”

As part of the agreement, Resilience will provide technology, manufacturing, and its knowledge in the biopharma space for the Abu Dhabi plant and the facility will be integrated within the company’s global network.

“We are excited to expand the footprint of our Resilience manufacturing network outside of North America. This is a significant milestone, not just for our company but also for our nation,” said Rahul Singhvi CEO of Resilience.

“We look forward to working alongside America’s allies in the region to ensure that trusted, cutting-edge biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity is available to support local, regional, and global economies.”

The spokesperson told us that the details surrounding how many members of staff will be employed at the plant are “still in progress and will be disclosed at a later date.” The same also applies to when the firm anticipates the facility to be fully operational.

Resilience said it does not think recruitment will be an issue and told this publication it will receive support from UAE government as it will “be providing talent development support, including academic and training/ apprenticeship programs. Additionally, the country has a long history of attracting foreign skilled labor from around the globe, including India.”

Rapid Resilience

The CDMO has grown rapidly through various investments since it entered the biopharma space in November 2020 with $800 million under its belt to provide ‘new, better, and faster ways’ to advance cell and gene therapies.

In February 2021, the company then took over the Allston facility in Boston, Massachusetts from Sanofi-Genzyme, adding 310,000 square-foot of mainly biologics space and around 250 staff.

Additionally, a 136,000 square-foot facility in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada was also added through the quiet acquisition of CDMO assets from Therapure Biopharma. And in April 2021, Resilience acquired Ology Bioservices and bagged itself a facility in Florida.

Now, the firm has 10 facilities situated across North America, with over 1 million square feet of manufacturing space and more than 1,600 employees. Last June, the company announced it had raised $625 million in a Series D financing round and, during the same time, revealed it raised $600 million in a Series C financing completed in August 2021 dedicated for use to continue to build up its footprint.