Genentech has announced the construction of a new biologics manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California. The facility, located about 35 miles north of San Diego, will use digital technologies to make the production of medicines more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The company hails the plant as one of the world’s most advanced commercial-scale biologics manufacturing facilities.

When operational in 2025, the plant’s modular design will allow for the simultaneous production of multiple medicines. It will also support pivoting quickly from producing one drug to another.

The facility will be the first in the company’s network specifically designed to commercialize biologics for narrower patient populations, including rare diseases and personalized medicines.

Close to talent

Genentech selected the Oceanside campus for its proximity to biotech talent and its clinical supply center in South San Francisco.

Genentech, a division of Roche, has invested approximately $450 million in the Oceanside campus. The investment will add approximately 150 local jobs and reduce the time to transfer production between facilities from 6 to 18 months to just a few days.

In August 2022, Genentech opened a new Clinical Supply Center in South San Francisco.

Designed for efficiency

Genentech designed the facility, which cost $250 million to construct, with the goal of getting products to patients faster and more sustainably.

The South San Francisco plant focuses on producing personalized medicines for small patient groups. It is also designed to be environmentally friendly, with LEED Gold certification and the use of 100% renewable energy.

Like the Oceanside plant, the facility was also designed with a modular design that allows for quick pivoting from one medicine to another. A “copy-paste” strategy that allows for rapid transfer from clinical to commercial production, said Jeff Davis, the executive director of the Clinical Supply Center (CSC), in an interview with Drug Discovery & Development last year. That center also was designed to minimize waste, with efforts to reuse, recycle or recapture energy from plastics used in production. In addition, the location in South San Francisco allows for proximity between R&D and manufacturing operations based in the company’s original home city.