FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has today marked a major milestone for UK life sciences with the official opening of its expanded biomanufacturing and process development site in Teesside, North East England. The £400 million investment by the Japanese technology group represents one of the biggest recent commitments to the UK’s pharmaceutical manufacturing landscape and underlines confidence in British science and innovation.
The upgraded campus now hosts the largest single-use biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) facility in the UK. Featuring 2,000 litre and 5,000 litre single-use bioreactors with a combined capacity of up to 19,000 litres, the new manufacturing centre will support small- and mid-scale antibody production. It is expected to be fully operational in the first half of 2026.
Alongside this, the newly opened Bioprocess Innovation Centre UK (BIC UK) doubles the campus’ laboratory footprint and introduces advanced, high-throughput and continuous process development capabilities. The centre will act as a global hub for biomanufacturing innovation, helping to accelerate the development of complex medicines and vaccines.
Industry and government leaders attended the celebratory launch, emphasising the importance of the expansion for jobs, skills and supply chain resilience. The project builds on the UK’s strong life sciences sector and reinforces Teesside’s growing reputation as a hub for cutting-edge biomedical production.
With more than 960 people already employed at the site and links to the company’s wider global network, the investment brings new opportunities for high-skilled work and further strengthens international collaboration. UK officials described the development as a “vote of confidence” in the country’s science base and a boost to efforts to bring next-generation treatments from lab to patient.
