Curia expands sterile fill-finish capacity in Glasgow, upgrades cell line platform

Curia, a contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) headquartered in Albany, New York, is expanding sterile fill-finish capacity at its Glasgow, UK facility and has enhanced its cell line development platform at its Hopkinton, Massachusetts site.

The Glasgow expansion, expected to be completed by early 2027, will add an Annex 1-compliant isolator-based vial filling line and lyophilizer, enabling batch sizes of up to 20,000 vials and positioning the site to support small-scale commercial fills, according to the announcement. The Glasgow facility has more than 25 years of experience in formulation, lyophilization development, and sterile fill-finish, including for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other highly potent products, the company said. Curia said it has already secured equipment with long lead times to keep the expansion on track without disrupting current operations.

Ron Aungst, vice president of drug product business unit operations at Curia, said in a statement the Glasgow addition comes as the company nears completion of an expansion at its commercial drug product facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

At its Hopkinton site, Curia has enhanced its cell line development platform by incorporating semi-targeted integration technology into its CHO-GSN stable cell line, resulting in six-fold higher titers compared to random integration technology. The CHO-GSN platform was derived from the same parental cell line as Curia's transient platform, enabling partners to scale from discovery to GMP manufacturing, the company said.

Jamie Grabowski, president of research and development at Curia, said in a statement the reengineered cell line is intended to make it more cost-efficient and faster to advance partners through early-stage clinical manufacturing, with biotech-friendly licensing terms.

The Glasgow and Albuquerque expansions were first announced in March 2025, with the Albuquerque site undergoing a multi-year, $200 million expansion adding two isolated filling lines and more than 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space.