IDT Biologika is expanding its capacities for the development of human vaccine technologies with a new applications lab in Magdeburg. The inaugural ceremony for the Process Development Laboratory in the ZENIT Center for Neuroscience Innovation and Technology was held today in the presence of the center’s resident companies.
Growing customer order volumes and the new, innovative technologies currently being developed by IDT are behind the push to expand development capacities. Existing production units in Dessau, Germany, particularly for human vaccine production, are working at capacity, and a portion of development is being transferred to Magdeburg until sufficient capacities are available in the BioPharmaPark in Dessau.
With this applications laboratory IDT is setting new benchmarks in the development of processes for human vaccines. By leasing laboratory space at ZENIT, the company is expanding its capacity to take on more development projects for human viral vaccines. “We have leased and equipped some 300 m² of laboratory and office space to give ourselves access to the most cutting-edge technologies for development needs. Once the lab is fully installed we can begin project development for recombinant vaccine technologies up to safety level S2 in Magdeburg,” reports project manager Sabrina Pelz.
Around ten IDT employees will work in development in Magdeburg. Development laboratories for cell culture technologies, fermentation, virus production and process analytics have been installed in the ZENIT complex, which will allow IDT Biologika to begin work on new, large-scale customer orders. Core technologies for manufacturing process innovation in vaccine production will also be developed in the new labs.
IDT Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Andreas Neubert, responsible for all of development at IDT, sees many advantages in an applications laboratory directly at the university hospital: “We chose the location at ZENIT for its research focus. I am certain that we will develop new contacts for the company here as well. There are opportunities for collaboration with Otto von Guericke University, the Max-Planck Institute and the university hospital which will be furthered by IDT’s presence in Magdeburg.”