Bayer is investing $150 million in its Berkeley, CA pharmaceutical development and manufacturing site to build a Cell Culture Technology Center for the development of biological therapies.

The new 40,000 square foot facility, which is expected to be ready for clinical production in late 2021, will support the development of emerging therapies in Bayer’s portfolio with an emphasis on oncology, cardiology and additional specialty care therapeutic areas. Bayer has selected Fluor for design and construction, and GE Healthcare for the integration of its FlexFactory technology platform into the Center.

Two years ago, Bayer implemented a strategy around key specialty care therapeutic areas, and recently increased its R&D focus on open innovation. The Center is being designed to support candidates in the drug pipeline, and enable development of new assets resulting from a range of collaborations from Bayer’s open innovation approach. 

“Bayer is deeply committed to bringing innovative medicines to market that provide significant patient benefit. This investment allows Bayer to expand our biologics development and launch capabilities, as we advance our R&D programs internally and through strategic collaborations,” said Wolfram Carius, Ph.D., executive vice president and head of Bayer Pharmaceuticals Product Supply.

“Bayer’s Cell Center Technology Center will combine automation, digital capabilities and single-use bioprocessing technologies to streamline production to allow us to bring new medicines to patients faster,” said Judy Chou, Ph.D., senior vice president and Global head of Bayer Biotech. “We’ve chosen to partner with Fluor and GE Healthcare on the Cell Culture Technology Center to leverage their expertise in designing flexible, scalable facilities for the future.” 

“Fighting cancer on all fronts requires fast and scalable innovation, as well as solutions based on digital insights,” said Emmanuel Ligner, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare Life Sciences. We are delighted to work with Fluor to offer our FlexFactory platform to help Bayer quickly and easily establish development and production capacity in oncology and other therapeutics.”