To meet increasing global demand for cell culture media used in the manufacturing of new vaccines and biologics, Thermo Fisher Scientific has expanded its dry powder media manufacturing facility in Grand Island, New York, US.

With this expansion, the Grand Island site provides redundant capacity to support global supply of media and further extends the site’s capabilities to produce the high-quality technology and materials needed for the development and commercial manufacturing of vaccines and biologic therapies.

The Grand Island expansion is part of Thermo Fisher’s $650 million multi-year investment, announced last year, to ensure flexible, scalable and reliable bioprocessing production capacity exists for these important medicines, including for COVID-19 vaccines.

The Grand Island expansion adds more than 45,000 square feet of Animal Origin Free (AOF) manufacturing space. This includes manufacturing of Thermo Fisher’s Advanced Granulation Technology (AGT) format and other AOF Dry Powder Media (DPM) products.

The expansion of the Grand Island site will add an estimated 100 team members across roles spanning R&D, operations, manufacturing, HR, engineering and maintenance. Thermo Fisher currently employs more than 1,600 people at the Grand Island site and over 3,000 people across New York.