Genentech to start construction on a new manufacturing facility in California
Roche’s Genentech has broken ground on a new manufacturing site in Southern California.
The pharma said on Friday that it is starting construction on a new facility to manufacture biologics at its campus in Oceanside, CA, north of San Diego. Genentech is investing hundreds of millions into manufacturing at the Oceanside facility and plans to add 150 jobs, the company said in a release. The campus sits on 60 acres and has around 575,000 square feet slated for manufacturing.
Nazeli Dertsakian, VP and general manager of the Oceanside Biologics operations, said in an email to Endpoints News that currently the site manufactures Xolair for asthma, but it is licensed to manufacture some oncology medicines as well. The new facility will make antibodies and protein-based medicines for commercial use, although the exact products have not been determined yet. The site will cover around 84,000 square feet, and construction is expected to finish in late 2024 with an opening date in early 2025.
Dertsakian said that by the time it’s completed, Genentech will have invested over $280 million in the new facility, which is part of a larger investment of an estimated $450 million in Oceanside. Genentech is investing another estimated $250 million in its facility in South San Francisco, CA.
The Oceanside campus was also selected due to its proximity to a large biotech talent pool in the San Diego area and to Genentech’s Clinical Supply Center in South San Francisco. Both sites will also have a standardized design, according to the company’s release and plan to produce therapies faster.
“After more than four decades of manufacturing innovation, we remain committed to our home state of California and continue to invest in new ways to bring medicines to patients quicker and more sustainably,” Genentech CEO Alexander Hardy said, in a statement.
Genentech finds itself in good company, as several manufacturers are calling the city home. CAR-T biotech Kite Pharma got the thumbs-up from regulators last year to start vector manufacturing at a 100,000-square-foot facility in Oceanside.
Ionis also announced last year it will lease a constructed 217,000-square-foot chemistry and manufacturing site built in Oceanside, with Ionis leasing the property for 20 years with two 10-year options to renew, and it can also be the first to purchase the property if it chooses to. Ionis plans for that facility to be completed by 2025 as well.
