- Icosagen has completed a €45 million expansion program, including a new single-use GMP manufacturing facility, to strengthen its integrated biologics development and manufacturing capabilities in Estonia.
- The investment enables the company to provide discovery, CMC development, and Phase I/II GMP manufacturing services for complex biologic therapies from a single site.
Icosagen has completed a €45 million expansion of its biologics development and manufacturing operations in Estonia, establishing an integrated platform that supports programs from early discovery through Phase I/II GMP manufacturing. The investment includes a new single-use GMP manufacturing facility operating in accordance with European GMP requirements and is supported by an €18 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) backed by the InvestEU program.
The expansion enables the company to provide biotechnology and biopharmaceutical customers with services spanning discovery, developability assessment, chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) development, and clinical manufacturing within a single organization and location. According to the company, the integrated CDMO and contract manufacturing model is designed to reduce project handovers and streamline the development of complex biologic therapies.
Icosagen said the expanded capabilities include antibody discovery, protein engineering, transient expression, developability assessment, stable IcoCell® CHO cell line development, upstream and downstream process development, analytical characterization, and GMP manufacturing. The company stated that the model is particularly suited to complex biologic modalities, including multispecific antibodies and other recombinant protein formats that may not fit conventional development platforms.
“The completion of this investment program represents an important strategic milestone for Icosagen. It strengthens our ability to connect early therapeutic protein development with CMC and GMP manufacturing in one integrated pathway, with fewer handovers and a deeper understanding of each molecule from the start.”
Prof. Mart Ustav, Founder and CEO of Icosagen
The company employs more than 200 scientists and said the integrated approach allows manufacturability and developability considerations to be addressed earlier in development, helping reduce technical risks and support clinical manufacturing of innovative biologic programs.
