MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker announced that it will spend “mid-double digit million euros” to expand capacity of its Amsterdam, Netherlands biotech facility, said Chemweek.
Projects include expansion of the biologics, live microbial products and vaccines manufacturing units. The company will build a new 1,500 liters fermentation line and set up new cleanroom structures.
"By investing in new plants and production equipment, we are continuing to upgrade the Amsterdam site two years after Wacker took it over, and are making our company fit for the future," says Jorg Lindemann, managing director of Wacker Biotech, the company’s Dutch subsidiary.
The new fermentation line will replace an existing facility with the same capacity after a transition period. At the same time, new, improved clean room structures in the area of the existing 270-liter production line are to be created. The existing clean rooms will be gutted, completely renovated and fitted with new equipment. Among other improvements, new utility supplies are planned. These will prepare the plant to produce new classes of actives, such as pDNA and mRNA-based vaccines. These nucleic acid-based actives classes are currently playing a role in the search for a vaccine against the new SARS Cov-2 corona virus.
"The strategic investment in our Amsterdam site is an important step in our continued growth in the fast-growing market for pharmaceuticals,” says Susanne Leonhartsberger, head of Wacker Biosolutions, the company’s life science division. “The new structures, new equipment and new fermentation line will also enable us to reliably meet our customers’ demand in the next years. We will strengthen our position as one of the leading contract manufacturers in the field of microbial production of biologics," says Guido Seidel, head of the biopharmaceuticals business and managing director of Wacker Biotech GmbH.
As a contract development and manufacturing organization, Wacker Biotech combines Wacker’s biopharmaceutical activities. Wacker acquired the Amsterdam site in 2018, doubling the company’s biologics capacity. The portfolio was expanded with the production of vaccines, including polysaccharides, and live microbial products. The site has two fermentation lines currently with capacities of 1,500 and 270 liters. They manufacture microbial-derived biopharmaceuticals for clinical testing and for the commercial market. Further manufacturing potential is offered by single-use fermenters with a capacity of 250 liters together with the ancillary equipment. The site also has a fill-and-finish facility for filling and lyophilization, which enables the complete manufacture of pharmaceuticals from the active agent to the filled product.
As MRC informed earlier, Wacker Chemie operates a 90 ktpa EVA compounding plant at the Ulsan site, consisting of two lines. The second line with a capacity of 40 thousand tons of products per year was launched in 2013.
According to MRC's DataScope, in June of this year, EVA imports to Russia fell by 22.57% to 2,940 tonnes from 3,800 tonnes in the same month of last year, and by the end of January-June 2020, imports of this type of ethylene copolymer in the Russian Federation decreased by 8.16% - to 17,440 tonnes (18,980 tonnes in January-June 2019).
Wacker Chemie manufactures and markets EVA dispersions under the VINNAPAS brand name. VINNAPAS polymer dispersions are used in a wide range of industries: for the production of complex thermal insulation systems, building and tile adhesives, plaster, building mixtures and mortars, cement sealing slurries and nonwovens.
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