Cytiva has upgraded its Fast Trak facility in Marlborough in response to demand for pre-clinical to Phase II biomanufacturing services from small to mid-sized companies.

Under the firm’s Fast Trak contract development and manufacturing brand, Cytiva has expanded its Marlborough cGMP facility to 60,000 square feet. The plant offers biopharma access to services from preclinical to Phase II, including process development, clinical batch manufacturing, analytical development, and QA/QC/regulatory support.

Olivier Loeillot, senior vice president of BioProcess at Cytiva, did not disclose the financial investment into the plant but told us the firm “has invested significant resources to expand the capacity and increase the robustness of our contract biomanufacturing services.”

Image c/o Cytiva

He added that at the facility Cytiva has “increased the throughput moving from a ball room setting to a more conventional setting with the separation of upstream and downstream processes. Now, we can run upstream and downstream projects concurrently.”

Loeillot did not divulge the number of jobs at the plant but did say “Cytiva is in the fortunate position to be hiring. Anyone interested in learning more about our open positions should visit our website for more information.”

Bioprocessing and CDMOs

Cytiva – until recently part of GE Healthcare Life Sciences – is one of the larger players in the bioprocess space, providing biomanufacturers technology and consumables. The CDMO-side of the business is often overlooked, but according to  Loeillot “the rapid growth of the biotechnology industry – particularly small to mid-sized companies – has contributed to the increased demand for contract biomanufacturing services associated with both viral readiness and therapeutic treatments.

“Cytiva’s Fast Trak scientists have been working with our customers to advance their biologic products from pre-clinical through Phase II development and manufacturing for more than 17 years and on various technologies included but not limited to mammalian cells and microbial microorganisms.”

With access to Cytiva’s bioprocess systems and technologies, Fast Trak may also hold advantages over other CDMOs in the space, he argued.

“Our business approach is to empower customers that want to build, transfer or meet clinical milestones with optionality to move in any direction by providing extensive technical support and single-use biomanufacturing expertise available at this enhanced site. Cytiva also has great experience and expertise utilizing its own Cell Culture Media, Purification resins and Single Use technologies.”