Sartorius inks deal for virus clearance center in Scotland

Sartorius has bolstered its virus clearance R&D capabilities in Lanarkshire, Scotland after signing a 15-year lease.

The deal, of which financial details have not been disclosed, sees German life sciences firm Sartorius take over more than 8,500 square-feet within Maxim 3 at the Eurocentral park for various research.

Lonza already has a presence in Glasgow, Scotland with a competence center for bioanalytics and a small team of experts for virus clearance services following its acquisition of BioOutsource in 2015.

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“This growing team will now move to the new premises in Maxim Park, which will serve as a center of excellence for our global confidence virus clearance services team,” a spokesperson for Sartorius told us.

According to Maxim Park, the space is being fitted out for a laboratory and open offices, which will include meeting rooms and break areas for visitors and members of staff.

“Our customers will also come to the site to collaborate on studies that will be used to support their submissions to regulatory bodies such as the MHRA for new drug substances, so we looked for a location that was modern, attractive, and will create a good impression with colleagues and customers,” Lorna Littlejohn, head of confidence virus clearance services at Sartorius said.

The firm is aiming to double the current 10 employees at the site by 2022 and will join other life sciences’ firms, such as Altair Medical, TC BioPharma and LumiraDX.

“The close proximity to Scotland’s substantial talent pool, with universities and specialized companies nearby, makes this an attractive location for us, as we are looking for staff with expertise in virus propagation and virus handling, as well as downstream processing solutions,” said Sartorius.

From Scotland to Shanghai

In other news, Sartorius has opened an application and service hub in Zhangjiang Science City in Shanghai, China.

The hub covers over 3,000 square meters and according to the firm, it has been designed as an integrated solution platform to drive progress in areas ranging from research, development, and production in the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry.

According to the firm, the most recent innovations in bioanalytics, digitalization and continuous processing are live in the application center with process solutions being showcased and early-stage monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and virus-based therapies to be discovered, developed, tested and verified.