Forge Biologics Closes $80 Million in Additional Financing to Accelerate Planned CDMO Expansion
Forge Biologics, a gene therapy-focused contract development and manufacturing organization, announced today 2022 manufacturing expansion plans to meet the growing demand for gene therapy manufacturing. The expansion will coincide with an accelerated increase in headcount and expansion of The Hearth facility in Columbus, Ohio, both aided by continued investments in the company.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220110005303/en/
The Hearth, Forge Biologics (Photo: Business Wire)
Forge has entered into a secured financing agreement with MidCap Financial that provides up to $80 million of borrowing capacity. This non-dilutive financing will support the facility expansion and new client offerings to be announced in 2022.
“We are excited to deliver on our goal of offering our clients expanded manufacturing capacity, while providing access to some of the largest suspension bioreactors available in the industry,” said Timothy J. Miller, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, President, and Co-Founder of Forge. “This increased scale, combined with our automated fill-finish capabilities, positions Forge as an ideal partner for clients moving beyond the clinic to commercial launch and supply, particularly those needing to manufacture cGMP AAV.”
The larger scale bioreactor capacity available for clients will be supported by continued growth in staffing as the company grows towards 400 employees, which will now be accelerated by a grant received from the State of Ohio to support new hires over the next three years.
“Forge Biologics is a pioneering company established and rapidly growing right here in Ohio,” said JobsOhio President and CEO, J.P. Nauseef. “The world-class researchers, talent and investors in Ohio have created an environment where Forge can develop life-changing gene therapy advancements that can positively impact lives worldwide.”
Forge initiated the facility expansion in 2021 and is increasing the overall manufacturing footprint of the company to over 200,000 square feet of facility space, including 20 cGMP manufacturing suites, with the ability to add more suites in the current facility in the future.
The ongoing facility expansion significantly increases the number and capacity of Forge’s bioreactors, including installation of 5,000L cGMP bioreactors for large-scale client needs in clinical and commercial programs for use with Forge’s proprietary suspension HEK 293 IgnitionTM cell line. The expansion also adds automated cGMP fill-finish capabilities to Forge’s offerings, designed with a cleanroom background classification that meets European Medicines Agency requirements for late-stage clinical and commercial filling needs. Both the 5,000L bioreactors and automated filling systems are expected to be available for client use in the second half of 2022.
The additional funding brings Forge’s total financing to approximately $240 million. Forge previously secured $160 million in two prior rounds with the closing of a $40 million Series A financing in July 2020, and a $120 million Series B round in April of 2021.
As previously reported, Forge is virtually presenting at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference scheduled for January 11, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET. The presentation will be available on our website at https://www.forgebiologics.com/news/#events immediately following the presentation and for 30 days thereafter.
About Forge Biologics
Forge Biologics is a hybrid gene therapy contract manufacturing and clinical-stage therapeutics development company. Forge’s mission is to enable access to life changing gene therapies and help bring them from idea to reality. Forge has a 200,000+ square foot facility in Columbus, Ohio, The Hearth, to serve as its headquarters. The Hearth is a custom-designed cGMP facility dedicated to AAV vector manufacturing and will host end-to-end manufacturing services to accelerate gene therapy programs from preclinical through clinical and commercial stage manufacturing. By taking a patients-first approach, Forge aims to accelerate the timelines of these transformative medicines for those who need them the most. To learn more, visit www.forgebiologics.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220110005303/en/
Contact information
Media Inquiries
Marina Corleto, M.N.O.
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
media@forgebiologics.com
Families and Clinician Inquiries
Maria Escolar, M.D., M.S.
Chief Medical Officer
medicalaffairs@forgebiologics.com
Business Development
Magdalena Tyrpien, M.B.A.
Senior Vice President, Head of Business Development
BD@forgebiologics.com
Client Development
John Maslowski, M.S.
Chief Commercial Officer
CD@forgebiologics.com
Investor Relations
Christina Perry, M.S.A., C.P.A.
Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations
Investors@forgebiologics.com
About Business Wire
Business WireSubscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
The Antera Brand Back at the Summit of Light Alloy-wheel Producers24.4.2024 14:23:00 CEST | Press release
The Antera brand makes its comeback on the world stage during the 2024 Milan Design Week with a new collection of light alloy wheels. A premium made-in-Italy brand, Antera combines timeless design, cutting-edge technology, and the determination to overcome any obstacle. Its ambassador is the football champion Roberto Baggio, who, thanks to his successful career and winning mindset, is the perfect embodiment of the Italian’s brand spirit of 'No Compromise'. The new Antera advertising campaign’s slogan, "Where instinct meets genius, the myth becomes legend", attests to the dedication, courage, and vision of a brand which is able to project itself into the future. Antera was founded in Milan in 1991 and has produced some of the most iconic models in the field, including the Type 109, a three-spoke wheel that was named as “Alloy Wheel Design of the Year 1994”. G.M.P. Group, a company specialized in the global design and production of alloy wheels, is responsible for bringing it back to its
Parse Biosciences Launches Laboratory Automation Provider Program, Collaborates with Hamilton, Opentrons Labworks, SPT Labtech24.4.2024 14:15:00 CEST | Press release
Parse Biosciences, a leading provider of accessible and scalable single cell sequencing solutions, today announced it has launched its Laboratory Automation Provider Program, enabling automation providers to readily support the adoption of Parse’s Evercode™ single cell products. By combining powerful automation with the Parse Evercode platform, customers will have unprecedented access to high-throughput single cell sequencing, enabling them to rapidly generate insights for large-scale studies. Parse’s Evercode single cell technology has enabled researchers to scale their projects to millions of cells or nuclei and has been widely adopted across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, basic research, and drug and target discovery. To facilitate scaling up these projects and to help researchers generate insights more quickly, Parse has developed automation-friendly workflows for high-throughput sample fixation, single cell barcoding, and library preparation. As key providers in the new Labor
AMGTA Releases Research on Sustainability of Powder and Wire Additive Feedstock24.4.2024 13:59:00 CEST | Press release
The Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (“AMGTA”) a global advocacy group focused on promoting sustainable additive manufacturing (“AM”) industry practices, announced today the preliminary results of a research project titled “Specific Energy of Metal AM Feedstock: A Comparison.” The study, commissioned by the AMGTA and conducted by Syntec Associates, a research consultancy, in partnership with Divergent Technologies, a complete modular digital factory for complex structures, evaluated three key metal AM feedstock processing approaches—gas atomization, mechanical milling (specifically ball milling), and wire drawing—to determine specific energy requirements for producing feedstock materials. The research findings highlighted that, from an energy perspective, helium gas atomization is the most sustainable method used for gas atomization for metallic powder production of commonly used alloys, followed by argon and then nitrogen. Specific energy consumption for atomization also
KnowBe4 to Acquire Egress24.4.2024 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Egress, a leader in adaptive and integrated cloud email security. Egress’ Intelligent Email Security suite provides a set of scaled, AI-enabled security tools with adaptive learning capabilities to help prevent, protect and defend organizations against sophisticated email cybersecurity threats. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Organizations globally struggle to contain behavioral-based data breaches, with 74 percent of incidents involving the human element according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report. By acquiring Egress, KnowBe4 plans to deliver a single platform that aggregates threat intelligence dynamically, offering AI-based email security and training that is automatically tailored relative to risk. “The future of security is personalized AI-driven controls and real-time coac
Vantage Data Centers Expands EMEA Portfolio with First Dublin Campus Featuring Next-Generation Energy Solution24.4.2024 12:00:00 CEST | Press release
Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, today announced its entrance into the Irish market with the development of a multi-phase data center campus (DUB1). The company will invest more than €1 billion over multiple phases to support the construction and delivery of the campus in one of the largest data center markets in Europe. The first two phases consist of 52MW of IT capacity, with the first phase expected to be operational in late 2024. Upon completion, DUB1 will mark Vantage’s 14th EMEA campus in a growing regional portfolio that spans seven countries. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240424930079/en/ Vantage Data Centers’ flagship Dublin campus will include 52MW of IT capacity to enable next-generation applications and digital transformation. (Graphic: Business Wire) The company’s flagship Ireland campus will be located approximately nine miles (15 kilometers) f
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom