The investment includes the purchase of 100,000sqft of land adjacent to the current facility where the company intends to make further upgrades in the next three years.
The facility expansion includes the addition of approximately 2,500sqf, a separate production site, additional storage and expanded purification production capacity to support increased current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) production. Construction will start in January 2009 with completion targeted for the end of 2009.
Medicago’s current facility is made up of 10,000sqft of Biosafety level 2 greenhouse spaces for plant growth, as well as 3,000sqft of cGMP manufacturing sites for plant manipulation, product recovery and purification.
Andy Sheldon, president and CEO of Medicago, said: This investment reflects our commitment to advance our H5N1 pandemic vaccine candidate into human trials as quickly as possible. Our current state-of-the-art cGMP facility meets all requirements for our Phase I trial, scheduled to commence in 2009, and with this expansion, we will be prepared for Phase II clinical studies.