Sterling Pharma Solutions, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has completed a multi-million-pound expansion of its bioconjugation facility in Deeside, U.K., doubling manufacturing capacity and increasing batch scale to 500 liters.

The expansion adds a large-scale GMP manufacturing suite with a 500-liter reactor and a 1,400-square-foot Grade C cleanroom. The facility supports the manufacturing of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other bioconjugates, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs), antibody-protein conjugates (APCs), and radio-chelators, according to the company.

The new suite uses flexible and hard containment technologies for handling highly potent compounds. Sterling said the Deeside facility can process materials with occupational exposure limits as low as 0.05 ng/m³, corresponding to an OEB 5 containment level, with processing conducted in single-use bioreactors.

The investment also includes a 3,400-square-foot analytical development laboratory and additional office space. The laboratory expands high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) capacity and adds capabilities including UPLC-LC/MS (liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry), particle-size imaging, protein stability characterization, automated ultrafiltration and diafiltration, and cell assay method development and analysis.

Andrew Henderson, president EMEA and chief commercial officer at Sterling, said in a statement that the additional capacity will allow the company to support larger batch sizes and projects through Phase III and potentially commercial manufacturing.

The Deeside facility provides discovery, development, scale-up and clinical manufacturing services for ADCs and other bioconjugates. Sterling also operates ADC capabilities at its Wisconsin facility, where it develops and manufactures linker payloads. The company said the sites work with partners providing antibody production and sterile fill-finish services to support an end-to-end ADC development and manufacturing offering.

The expansion builds on Sterling's broader U.S. manufacturing activities. In July 2025, the company announced an agreement with Oragenics to manufacture the biotech’s ONP-002 concussion treatment under cGMP standards at Sterling's Cary, North Carolina facility. The agreement was intended to provide clinical trial supply for Oragenics’ planned Phase IIb program.