Just-Evotec Opens 130,000 Square Foot cGMP Manufacturing Facility in Redmond, WA

 By David Gross

Just-Evotec Biologics has completed construction of a 130,000 square foot cGMP facility outside Seattle in Redmond, WA.  Just was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was acquired by Evotec of Germany for $90 million in 2019.

The facility will house 300 employees, or nearly 500 per square foot, once fully operational.  Merck has already purchased $15 million of capacity there to produce anti-cancer antibodies.  Unilke traditional monoclonal antibody manufacturing sites, Just-Evotec will use continuous processing, not batch processing, for scaling up cell cultures.  Continuous processing also integrates downstream chromatography steps, with the objective of increasing productivity by reducing the downtime that occurs between serial batch steps in traditional antibody manufacturing.

Asking rents for industrial space in Redmond are in the low 20s.