Sartorius opens cell culture media plant in Puerto Rico

Sartorius has opened a 21,500 square-foot cell culture media manufacturing plant at its existing Yauco, Puerto Rico site.

The expansion of Sartorius’ cell culture media capacity in Puerto Rico, which opened this week, helps the firm focus specifically on customers in the Americas region. According to the firm, operations began in spring 2023 and will be ramped up throughout the year.

Cell culture media are used to feed cells in the manufacture of   therapeutic proteins and various other modalities.

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“The new cell culture media production in Yauco is part of our global capacity expansion program and is an important building block in the Sartorius manufacturing network,” said René Fáber, member of the Executive Board and Head of the Bioprocess Solutions division at Sartorius.

“It will further strengthen our comprehensive portfolio for customers, particularly in the Americas region. Additionally, it underlines our commitment to Puerto Rico as well as the local team and reinforces the site’s significance in our efforts to assist customers in developing and manufacturing biopharmaceutical drugs faster and more efficiently.”

Continued investment

Sartorius selected Yauco to be the firm’s first manufacturing site outside of Germany and manufacturing started in 1983. Since then, the company has used Yauco to produce filters and sterile single-use (SU) bags.

The firm began expanding its Yauco production and distribution center in 2016 and said it has invested more than $100 million into the site.

Currently, Sartorius has more than 1,200 employees at its Yauco site.