Regeneron, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies ink $3B US manufacturing agreement

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies announced that it has signed a 10-year manufacturing supply agreement worth more than $3 billion with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to provide U.S.-based production of the biotechnology company’s biologic medicines.

Under the agreement with Regeneron, the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) will leverage its facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, which will become operational later in 2025.

Regeneron in its announcement of the deal said it will nearly double the company’s large-scale U.S. manufacturing capacity by accessing Fujifilm’s new facility in Holly Springs.

The CDMO is adding eight 20,000L bioreactors at its Holly Springs site, part of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global interconnected manufacturing network “which provides a first-of-its-kind modular approach with standardized equipment, processes, and procedures across our sites around the globe to help ensure supply chain security and seamless tech transfers,” CEO Lars Petersen said in a statement.

Last month, Petersen said in a session at DCAT Week in New York City that the CDMO is building identical large-scale production facilities in Europe and the U.S., designed to modularly and seamlessly integrate manufacturing regardless of location.

“We are using that for an ecosystem where we are basically designing, constructing, and operating all our sites in the same manner,” Petersen said. “This is something we have talked about in this industry for many years, but we are actually doing it.”

With an $8 billion global manufacturing investment, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is looking to start generating revenue from its capital expenditures, with about $4 billion of that infrastructure operationalized by the end of 2025.

The CDMO plans to bring additional capacity online this year and in 2026 as it completes expansion projects underway in Europe and the U.S. Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies said it has added 500 new positions as part of its overall goal of creating 1,400 jobs in North Carolina by 2031.

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of biologics, Regeneron said it is continuing to invest in its New York State sites, with an ongoing $3.6 billion expansion at the company’s Tarrytown campus including research, preclinical manufacturing, and support facilities.

Regeneron is also building a new fill-finish manufacturing facility in Rensselaer, New York, and has purchased a one million-square-foot property in Saratoga Springs, New York, for production support and potentially adding manufacturing capacity.