The CDMO has expanded its facilities by a further 22,600 square feet to relieve its capacity constraints.

Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Exothera was founded in March 2020 by Belgium-based bioprocess tech firm Univercells, to offer cell and gene therapy developers process development and viral vector manufacturing.

After expanding its two facilities in Jumet, Belgium about 25 km south of Brussels, and selecting bioprocess vendor Pall Corporation to equip the roughly 92,000 square feet of space in July 2021, the CDMO has now added 22,600 square feet to its production space.

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The firm did not disclose specific financial details but a spokesperson person for Exothera told BioProcess Insider “It is an investment of several tens of million – possible with the support of European Investment Bank, Sambrinvest and local banks.”

The firm claims that together with Univercells’ team and various partners it has constructed one of Europe’s largest facilities, which has received Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification from the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP).

“This GMP accreditation for our facility extension is the cornerstone of everything we have been building since the beginning,” said Thibault Jonckheere, CEO of Exothera.

“It will not only allow us to welcome new customers whose products are in early development stage but will also allow all of our existing partners to meet their large-scale manufacturing needs”.

The facility includes five upstream grade C clean rooms with numerous bioreactor technologies, which can be used for adherent and suspension cell culture. The firm claims the bioreactors can go up to two times 2,000 L for the suspension platform and two times 600 square feet for the adherence platform.

Exothera says it has accelerated the development of its facilities in “record time,” adding that it aims to create a “new class of CDMO,” that can transform the time it takes to deliver therapies to patients.

“In order to support the ramp-up of these two additional units, more than 50 people will be hired by the end of 2022,” the spokesperson said.

Furthermore, the CDMO is considering options to expand internationally depending on customer needs.