16. September 2022 Evotec initiates ground-breaking for new biologics facility

Biologics are a highly effective therapeutic option with broad applicability across many indications. However, the traditional fed-batch manufacturing presents significant challenges, especially at the upscaling from clinical to commercial supply. With a modular continuous manufacturing setup, the J.POD^® technology allows for highly intensified cGMP manufacturing of biologics at flexibly scalable quantities, thus reducing both scale-up risks and manufacturing costs significantly.

During a ceremony on Campus Curie, Jean-Luc Moudenc, President of Toulouse Métropole and Mayor of Toulouse, Jalil Benabdillah, Vice-President, Economy, Employment, Innovation and Reindustrialisation of the Occitania region as well as Étienne Guyot, Prefect of Haute-Garonne and Occitania, joined the management of Evotec and subsidiary company, Just – Evotec Biologics, to break ground for the new facility. J.POD^® Toulouse, France (EU) is expected to be operational in H2 2024 and will create upwards of 150 new high-skill jobs on Evotec’s Campus Curie in Toulouse.

Just – Evotec Biologics opened the first facility of this kind, J.POD^® Redmond, WA (US), in August 2021. The first manufacturing runs for valued partners, one of them being the U.S. Department of Defense, were initiated shortly thereafter.

Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: “Today’s ground-breaking for J.POD^® Toulouse, France (EU), Just – Evotec Biologics’ second J.POD^® facility, marks an important milestone on our path to making biologics globally available. J.POD^® is a disruptive technology that makes biologics manufacturing not only scalable, but even more importantly, available right where they are needed. We are grateful to be able to realise this project with funding from the French government, the Occitanie Region, Bpifrance, the Haute-Garonne prefecture as well as Toulouse Métropole.”

The construction of J.POD^® Toulouse, France (EU) benefits from French government funding as part of the Investments for the future Programme (programme d’investissements d’avenir in French) and is also supported economically by the Occitanie Region and Toulouse Métropole.