Biogen’s New NC Gene Therapy Manufacturing Facility To Revitalize The State’s Economy

Biogen is investing $200 million to build a gene therapy facility in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, according to the official website. It would seem that this latest project will become the epicenter of their research and manufacturing efforts going forward. In fact, this state-of-the-art facility comes at the perfect time, as better medical technology is needed more than ever.

In the interest of maintaining a reliable supply line of superior medicines, Biogen is investing extra in their manufacturing capacity. These will take the form of advanced, sustainable facilities and machinery specialized for each product. According to Nicole Murphy, Senior VP of Biogen’s Global Manufacturing and Technical Operations wing, this move is also for the purpose of supporting their redoubled efforts in gene therapy programs. The upgraded facilities will also improve their ability to collaborate with other companies. Collaboration is vital to speed up research and development, and the latest equipment will only serve to streamline the process even more.

Situated in North Carolina’s renowned Research Triangle Park, Biogen’s 175,000 square-foot facilities will be built from the ground up with sustainability in mind. Water and energy efficiency will be maximized, and waste disposal systems will be on top-the-line to prevent mishandling of sensitive lab refuse. State-of-the-art maintenance solutions will also be employed. This includes gear such as borescopes like the spiborescopes.com/4mm-borescope/ and pipe cameras so maintenance technicians have in-house means to deal with internal issues.

Biogen will also be drawing heavily from North Carolina’s highly skilled STEM workers. This is part of their increased commitment to more diversity in the workforce. Workers from all walks of life will be recruited to work at the expansive facility. This includes people of all genders, races, and ethnic backgrounds, as well as veterans and persons with disabilities.

With the construction of this facility, Biogen seeks to forge a path into the world of life-saving medicine with renewed energy. As veterans in the fields of biotech and pharmacy, the company is confident that they can invest in several pursuits at once in order to achieve this goal. The improved and diversified gear hosted in this new facility will serve as the vehicle for that process. Chief among these pursuits is gene therapy, for which Biogen intends to develop a scalable manufacturing model. This would enable gene therapy manufacturing to be operated on a global scale, regardless of a country’s technological or economic capability.

As we are in the midst of a global drive for better medicine, Biotech’s new facility could not have come at a better time. Especially considering that the list of applications for gene therapy only grows as time goes on. With this bold step forward by Biotech, they could provide substantial contributions to our medical understanding that would be felt for decades to come.