Thermo Fisher Scientific Expands Cell Culture Media Manufacturing Site in Grand Island New York

GRAND ISLAND, NY, August 4, 2022 – To meet the growing global demand for cell culture media used in the manufacture of new vaccines and biological products, Thermo Fisher Scientific has expanded its dry powder media manufacturing facility in Grand Island, New York. With this expansion, the Grand Island site provides redundant capacity to support global media supply and further expands the site’s capabilities to produce the technology and high-quality materials needed for the development and commercial manufacture of vaccines and vaccines. biological therapies. The Grand Island expansion is part of Thermo Fisher’s multi-year, $650 million investment, announced last year, to ensure there is flexible, scalable and reliable bioprocessing production capacity for these important drugs. , including for COVID-19 vaccines.

The Grand Island expansion adds over 45,000 square feet of animal-free (AOF) manufacturing space. This includes manufacturing Thermo Fisher’s Advanced Granulation Technology (AGT) format and other AOF Dry Powder Media (DPM) products. This added capacity and reliability will help accelerate the development and production of life-saving and life-changing biotherapeutics and vaccines by biopharmaceutical manufacturers, biotech developers and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) across the world. global markets for the production of innovative biological products, biosimilars, cell therapies and viral vectors. This strategic investment duplicated the existing manufacturing facility, processing capabilities and equipment to provide production redundancy and shorten product lead times for customers.

“Our expanded Grand Island site represents an important milestone in our investment to double our total manufacturing capacity by the end of 2023,” said Kate Torchilin, Ph.D, president, Biologicals and Chemicals, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “With harmonized capabilities across our global manufacturing sites that allow us to prove equivalence in manufacturing, we are able to meet current demand while preparing for future growth and continuously improving our customer experience at scale. world.”

For 60 years, Grand Island has been home to Gibco products, which are essential for reliable, high-quality bioproduction around the world. Gibco cell culture media and supplements from Thermo Fisher are already used or have been used to develop and manufacture more than 250 commercial biological products, including cell and gene therapies, mAbs and vaccines.

“The history of Thermo Fisher’s presence on Grand Island is a testament to the long-standing positive reputation of the biomedical research community in Western New York,” said Congressman Brian Higgins. “Gibco, originally founded by researchers at Roswell Park, continues to provide essential products to laboratories across our country and around the world, and the value of their work has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now employing more than 1,600 people, I’m proud to share in the celebration of Thermo Fisher’s continued investment and commitment to the Western New York community.”

The Grand Island site expansion will add approximately 100 team members in roles spanning R&D, operations, manufacturing, HR, engineering and maintenance. Thermo Fisher currently employs over 1,600 people at the Grand Island site and over 3,000 people in New York.