Thermo Fisher: $180m MA viral vector plant opens doors

Thermo Fisher adds 300,000 square feet of gene therapy manufacturing capabilities through the opening of the Plainville, Massachusetts plant.

In the same week a Thermo Fisher facility capital expenditure came to fruition in its single-use materials business, the life sciences services firm has announced a viral vector plant expansion is complete.

The Plainville plant was commissioned in May 2020 at a cost of $180 million and, now open, effectively doubles the firm’s commercial viral vector capacity in supporting increased demand for the development of gene therapies and vaccines.

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“Plainville is an impressive addition to our pharma services network as we continue to invest and innovate cell and gene therapy services, products and workflows,” said Marc Casper, CEO of Thermo Fisher.

“We are enabling our customers to speed their scientific discoveries in cell and gene therapy while also supporting their manufacturing needs, whether they are early in the development process or ready to transition to clinical or commercial scale.”

Thermo’s CDMO biz: From biologics to CGT

After becoming a major biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) through the acquisition of Patheon in 2017, Thermo Fisher moved into the cell and gene therapy space in 2019, buying Brammer Bio in March 2019.

Since then, the firm has been invested heavily in its global manufacturing network, and especially in the CGT sector, including adding a plasmid DNA plant in California in 2021.

“The new cGMP-compliant Plainville facility significantly expands the company’s clinical and commercial viral vector capacity to six sites in the US and Europe,” Thermo Fisher said. “The site features sustainable construction design, flexible laboratory and production suites, adjacent warehousing, and office space, as well as Thermo Fisher’s advanced bioproduction and analytical instrumentation technologies.”