Avid Bioservices, with recent IPO and Covid-19 partnership in hand, launches 2nd phase of facility expansion
California’s Avid Bioservices now has two simultaneous expansion projects underway as the CDMO’s projections for customer demand sparked the launch this week of the second phase of building out its Myford facility.
Avid expects construction on the second phase, which will be known as its Myford South facility to take 18 to 24 months to complete at a cost of roughly $45 million to $55 million, it said in a press release.
The biotech, which focuses mostly on mammalian cell-culture drug development, estimates that the addition of Myford South could increase its annual revenue-generating capacity by $100 million.
“With the continued strong growth that we have experienced in both revenue and customer demand in recent months and quarters, we feel that Avid is in a strong position to kick off the second phase of our Myford facility expansion,” Nicholas Green, Avid CEO, said in a statement.
The first phase of Avid’s expansion, the northern side of the Myford site, launched in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is primarily concerned with adding a second downstream processing suite at the location. The company estimates the first phase will take approximately 12 to 15 months to complete at an estimated cost of approximately $15 million.
That phase could increase the Avid’s annual revenue-generating capacity by $50 million, and the two expansions together could bring the company’s total revenue capacity to $270 million, it said.
The expansions continue a banner February for Avid, which earlier this month partnered with Humangien to manufacture lenzilumab, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic designed to treat cytokine storm caused by Covid-19. The drug has finished a Phase III clinical trial, and Avid signed on to help with scaling it for possible commercialization.
And in December, the biotech closed its initial public offering of over 3.8 million stock shares at $9 per share, generating some $34.5 million in revenue.