Abzena Announces Major Investment in Bioconjugation and ADC Capabilities

Abzena Announces Major Investment in Bioconjugation and ADC Capabilities in Response to Increasing Industry Demand

Bristol, PA, March 27, 2024 – Abzena, the leading end-to-end integrated CDMO for complex biologics and bioconjugates, announced a significant expansion of their Bristol, PA bioconjugate development and cGMP manufacturing site. The $5 million investment in expanded laboratory space, new equipment, and facility upgrades, builds upon the site’s existing bioconjugation capabilities and increases capacity to support the delivery of fully integrated biopharmaceutical drug programs.

This latest investment provides a major boost to the Abzena Bristol facility by expanding and optimizing the site’s Quality Control (QC) and analytical laboratory layouts and technologies, allowing for increased efficiencies in response to customer demand. As part of this expansion, Abzena has invested in five state-of-the-art Waters Arc Premier LC Systems and two ACQUITY Premier Chromatography Systems, to ensure consistency and reliability in product analysis from the earliest development stages to cGMP release and stability testing.

To complement the site’s newly expanded analytical capabilities, Abzena has also invested in a Sartorius Hipersep® Flowdrive Pilot System to enhance purification processes for clinical manufacturing batches. Engineered to operate at pressures up to 100 bars, this system has higher pressure and flow rate capacity to facilitate rapid purification processes, isolating significant quantities in a single processing day and allowing for more efficient isolation of desired compounds from impurities.

The site has also extensively renovated its non-laboratory space, installing new flooring, and modern lighting systems, and rejuvenating communal spaces, to improve efficiencies and elevate the working environment for colleagues.

Ian Glassford, Vice President and Bristol Site Head stated, “The integration of the Waters Arc Premier and ACQUITY Premier Chromatography systems alongside the Sartorius Hipersep® Flowdrive represents a quantum leap in our operational capabilities. Combined with our comprehensive site renovations, these advancements enhance our capabilities to better support customer programs and affirm our dedication to creating a supportive workplace for our employees.”

Matt Stober, CEO of Abzena, said, “The strategic investment into our Bristol site demonstrates our continued commitment to deliver high-quality programs for our customers that offer them the best chances of downstream success. We have seen a significant increase in bioconjugate and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs in today’s development pipelines, and as an industry leader with over 20 years of experience in this space, we will continue to invest in our facilities across all of our sites to offer cost and time efficiencies so that these programs can reach patients faster.”

Abzena has additional investments planned in both development and manufacturing areas at the Bristol, PA facility that will be completed throughout 2024.

To access a PDF of the release, click here.

Abzena’s Bioconjugation & ADC Capabilities

The Abzena team are experts in the design, development, and manufacture of bioconjugates and ADCs drug programs.  With over 20 years of experience in both the UK and the US, our team has the technical knowledge in complex chemistry needed to design and improve existing synthetic routes for complex chemicals by proposing and executing more efficient and innovative approaches. Our team applies state-of-the-art methodologies and technologies to synthesize complex molecules including payloads, pre-clinical drug candidates, reference compounds, and process impurities. Our unique ThioBridge® site-specific conjugation technology has been proven to enhance ADC development by overcoming issues with existing technologies to improve stability, potency, and efficacy.

If you are looking to rapidly move your ADC program to its next regulatory or clinical milestone, access our latest information on ThioBridge® today to learn how.