AGC, a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals, and high-tech materials, has announced that it has decided to expand its biopharmaceutical CDMO capability at the AGC Yokohama Technical Center. The total investment for the expansion is expected to be approximately US$ 348 million. Development services for gene and cell therapies is planned to begin first in 2025, followed by development and manufacturing services for mRNA pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals made using mammalian cell cultures and gene and cell therapies in 2026.

This expansion has been selected by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as part of its "Developing biopharmaceutical manufacturing sites to strengthen vaccine production project" (announced by AGC in October 2022).

AGC will introduce dual-use facilities that can be applied to manufacturing of vaccines in the event of a pandemic. In addition to mammalian cell culture bioreactors which have one of the largest capacity as a CDMO in Japan, the expansion will also include facilities for leading-edge field of mRNA pharmaceuticals and gene and cell therapies.

This will greatly contribute to the domestic development and manufacturing capabilities for biopharmaceuticals, which are currently highly reliant on overseas CDMOs. Furthermore, fully operational, it is expected to employ approximately 400 employees and contribute to the advancement of the society and biotech industry.

Under its medium-term business plan, AGC plus-2023, the AGC Group has positioned its Life Science business including its biopharmaceutical CDMO, as one of its strategic businesses.