Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc has announced more than $600 million in capital investments to expand its bioprocessing production capabilities through 2022. These investments are expected to more than double the company's current manufacturing capacity and support biopharma customers as they ramp up to meet both the short-term demands related to COVID-19 as well as long-term efforts to develop new vaccines and biologics for other conditions.

"As the bioprocessing market grows, our customers require a consistent and reliable supply of critical materials. Single-use technologies, cell culture media and purification resins are among those in highest demand," said Michel Lagarde, Executive Vice President, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "These investments add significant capacity and regional redundancy to further bolster supply chains and help us better support customers as they accelerate the commercialisation of lifesaving therapies and vaccines." 

With these investments, the company expects to create more than 1,500 new jobs across 11 manufacturing sites in the Americas, Europe and Asia. 

To increase supply chain resiliency across multiple locations on three continents, Thermo Fisher's single-use technologies business is expanding capacity at sites in Logan, Utah; Millersburg, Pa; Cramlington, UK; Singapore and Suzhou, China.  Additional investment at its Santa Clara, Calif site will expand bioprocessing equipment and automation capacity.

The company will also expand its state-of-the-art POROS resin manufacturing site in Bedford, Mass and open a new 85,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chelmsford, Mass. Together, these sites will reinforce Thermo Fisher's purification network that specialises in the production of process-scale chromatography resins for a variety of applications, including vaccines and gene therapies.

Investments to expand capacity at sites in Grand Island, NY; Miami, Fla and Inchinnan, Scotland will increase production of Gibco cell culture media, supplements and process liquids as well as the manufacturing of customer-owned proprietary media formulations. These investments provide redundancy to support global supply and further extend capabilities, including harmonising dual-milling options worldwide.