Brammer Bio expands facilities

Thermo Fisher expanded its gene therapy presence when it bought the viral vector contract development and manufacturing organization Brammer Bio this year. Now Brammer Bio is completing $100 million in capital expansion projects to meet increasing demand for gene therapies for clinical and commercial use.

Paul Jorjorian, head of bioprocess sciences in Thermo Fisher’s Pharma Services Group, said: “Thermo Fisher’s acquisition of Brammer makes a pretty strong statement of where we’re putting a stake in the ground with respect to gene therapy. We believe that we’re going to be able to, because we’re part of the greater Thermo Fisher organization, and offer a very compelling service offering to our customers. Clearly the value proposition in going to a CDMO for a small and emerging company is relatively straightforward. If you only have a couple of products, going and building your own GMP manufacturing facility is probably not the best business case. You want to take your very, very smart scientific staff, and have them driving on developing new innovative therapies. We can come in, develop the process, manufacture the drug, and get it to patients more efficiently than anyone else out there. We’re going to continue to deliver a top-tier service for those customers looking to do that.”

Christopher K. Murphy, vice president and general manager of viral vector services in Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Pharma Services Group, said: “This expansion allows us to further our 12+ year mission of advancing gene therapy medicines and complements our recent doubling of clinical manufacturing capacity. By year’s end, we will have 27 drug substance suites and four drug product lines active across our network, and our next commercial facility project will be underway.”