CSL opens new biotechnology manufacturing facility in Australia

Located adjacent to CSL Behring’s manufacturing plant for plasma products, the new facility is the centerpiece of the company’s $250m expansion at its Broadmeadows site and will play a major role in its global drug development strategy.

The new facility will be used for producing novel recombinant therapies on a large scale for international clinical trials.

CSL chief executive officer Paul Perreault said, "This world-class facility is key to the ongoing success of our global R&D strategy and reflects our commitment to providing better treatment options for people who are managing certain bleeding disorders and other life-threatening conditions."

CSL’s recombinant factor development programs, which include the AFFINITY trial and the PROLONG trial for the study of therapies to treat hemophilia A and B, respectively, are central to its long-term growth plans.

The company said that several candidates in these trials are showing promise, including rVIII-SingleChain, rIX-FP, and rVIIa-FP.

Recombinant therapies are modified versions of naturally occurring human proteins that have been optimized to offer better treatment options for patients.

The company has more recently developed specialist capabilities in recombinant-based research, adding to its long-standing expertise in plasma protein therapeutics.

Currently, the company’s R&D pipeline includes recombinant therapies for a range of rare and serious disease, including bleeding disorders, inflammatory conditions and cancer.

First therapy to be manufactured in the new facility will be a novel blood clotting factor (rVIIa-FP) for the treatment of hemophilia.

The company expects to start clinical trials of rVIIa-FP in patients later in 2014 in the US, Europe and Australia.

Photo: CSL Behring Biotechnology Manufacturing Facility in Broadmeadows, Melbourne. Photo: courtesy of CSL Behring