Strategic investments support efforts to bring advanced medicines to market faster

FRANKFURT, Germany, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CPhI 2019 -- Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, will highlight recent initiatives to expand its capabilities, capacity and talent globally at the 2019 CPhI Worldwide conference. In addition, Thermo Fisher thought leaders will address opportunities in cell and gene therapy, and trends in contract manufacturing and bioproduction as part of the Pharma Insights Briefings speaking series. This year's event will be held November 5-7 in Frankfurt, Germany.

"The investments we have made in 2019 aren't just allowing us to add capacity, they are also enhancing Thermo Fisher's value proposition for our pharma and biotech customers of all sizes, globally," said Michel Lagarde, executive vice president, Thermo Fisher. "The biopharma industry is continually evolving, so it is essential that we prepare for future advancements, which is why we are taking a strategic approach to ensuring our investments in processes, capabilities and people enable us to support customers throughout the entire product lifecycle – from pre-clinical to commercial."

Enhancing Skills Through Virtual and Augmented Reality
Reinforcing its commitment to the development of its people and a skilled workforce, Thermo Fisher recently dedicated an industry-leading training center at its largest manufacturing site in Greenville, North Carolina, featuring virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) modalities. This novel approach to training gives operators the required level of proficiency in significantly less time, and benefits customers by increasing quality and process efficiency.

Accelerating Innovation and Enhancing Productivity
Opening December 2019, in the company's Greenville, North Carolina, site, Thermo Fisher's new Lab of the Future is a modular QC laboratory designed with Lean Manufacturing principles, state-of-the-art instrumentation, full instrument connectivity, laboratory automation and a leading-edge Informatics system to enable efficient and timely analytical results. The lab leverages capabilities across several Thermo Fisher businesses, including chromatography from the company's premier UHPLC systems, and will serve as a model for all sites across the Thermo Fisher pharma services network.

Expanded Capabilities and Expertise
Some of the latest expansions and additional capabilities that enable customers to bring more advanced medicines to patients include:

• Launch of the Optima high-speed, high-volume prefilled syringe / cartridge line in December 2019 in Greenville, North Carolina. The expanded capacity and capabilities address the growing need in the industry for high-quality sterile fill / finish services, which is being driven by the growth of biologic therapies.
• New commercial packaging capabilities that will deliver continuity of one provider from manufacturing to packaging and clinical to commercial, while facilitating greater speed-to-market for customers requiring complex packaging configurations, small runs and quick turnovers for oral solid dosage and sterile drug forms.
• Investment of $50 million in our St. Louis, Missouri, site to double biologics manufacturing capacity.
• Expansion and opening of new facilities in its integrated clinical trials supply and distribution services network in Rheinfelden, Germany; Ahmedabad, India; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Suzhou, China.
• Expansion of its new gene therapy facilities in Alachua, Florida, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thermo Fisher also plans to open a new commercial manufacturing site in Lexington, Massachusetts, by year end to meet customer demand for gene therapies and gene-modified cell therapies.
• Recent acquisition of the GlaxoSmithKline manufacturing site in Cork, Ireland, in its continuous commitment to maintain a leadership position in the industry by expanding global capacity for API development and manufacturing services.
• Opening of the continuous manufacturing line in 2020 which has the potential to facilitate scale-up, reduce time to market and maintain or enhance quality while saving costs.

Tackling Key Industry Topics During Pharma Insight Briefings
Leaders from Thermo Fisher's pharma services and bioproduction businesses will lead three presentations, delivering industry insights and trends as part of the Pharma Insight Briefings speaker series, including:

• "Understanding the Cell and Gene Technology Opportunity," Chris Murphy, vice president and general manager, pharma services, on November 6, at 10:30 a.m. in the ICSE Theater
• "Exploring Trends in Contract Manufacturing," Anil Kane, executive director and global head of technical and scientific affairs, November 5, at 10:30 a.m. in the ICSE Theater
• "Building Quality and Consistency into Bioproduction Media and Supplements," Stacy Holdread, Manager, Research and Development, Cell Culture and Cell Therapy, November 5, at 5 p.m.

For more information about Thermo Fisher's presence at CPhI and our efforts to help ensure the delivery of excellence to customers and the patients we serve globally, please visit our Mediaroom.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of more than $24 billion and approximately 70,000 employees globally. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, deliver medicines to market and increase laboratory productivity. Through our premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services – we offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive services. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.

Media Contact:
Mari Mansfield
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Phone: 919-632-4712
Mari.Mansfield@thermofisher.com

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