Agilent Technologies has acquired 20 acres in Weld County, Colorado, on which it plans to build a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The expansion will enable the company to more than double its commercial manufacturing capacity for nucleic acid active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Researchers believe oligonucleotides (short DNA and RNA molecules) hold the potential to treat various forms of cancer, diabetes, muscular dystrophy and other disorders. The expansion would result in about 150 to 200 new, permanent jobs.

Agilent has been manufacturing and delivering oligo-APIs for clinical trials from its 65,000-square-foot GMP facility in Boulder Colorado since 2002. Manufacturing capabilities include 11 independent suites that create four separate synthesis/purification trains and two lyophilization units. The company completed a commercial GMP plant expansion for late-stage and commercial quantities of oligo APIs in 2010.

Source: Agilent Technologies