Biopharma tubing firm Venair has broken ground on a $6 million facility in Spain to support a jump in demand triggered by COVID-19.

The 2,200m² ‘Excellence Center’ Venair Group near Barcelona, Spain will be fully operational by Q4 2022 and will double the firm’s global capacity for single-use equipment and tubing used in bioprocessing functions.

“This center will focus on: Extrusion of silicone and TPE tubing, manufacturing of single-use bags, assembling of single-use kits, [and an] innovation center for the development of new products,” Venair spokeswoman Marina Romero told us.

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She added the expansion has been driven by “the shortage of product in the market that has caused and acceleration on product validation,” and while that has been the cause of COVID-19, new client wins are not solely from those battling the pandemic.

“The shortage of components due to COVID-19 has shown customers the need to diversify their suppliers and, therefore, has given us more opportunities to become suppliers of more pharmaceutical customers, many of which are not related to COVID-19 vaccines,” she said.

“Our existing customer base is much larger than it was pre-COVID. We need to be prepared to serve these customers in the near future.”

Globally Venair employs around 350 staff across its Spanish site and a facility in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Once operational, the new Excellence Center will employ approximately 100 more highly qualified operators, engineers and scientists.