Agilent to Expand Nucleic Acid-Based Therapeutics Production with $725 Million Investment

Jan. 9, 2023

“It’s yet another example of our focus on investing in high-growth markets," said Mike McMullen, Agilent president and CEO.

IW Staff

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced Monday it will invest $725 million to produce therapeutic nucleic acids as demand for their active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) continues to increase. The short DNA and RNA molecules that are the APIs used in therapeutics for a variety of diseases can also be called therapeutics oligonucleotides or oligos.

The announcement of the investment that will double the manufacturing capacity of therapeutic nucleic acids comes as the market for therapeutics oligos, currently estimated at $1 billion, is projected to grow to $2.4 billion in 2027.

“This additional capacity will enable us to meet strong demand for siRNA and antisense molecules and also significantly increase the number of CRISPR guide RNA programs we can take on,” said Sam Raha, president of Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group.

Trains C and D, two new manufacturing lines, will be part of the expanded manufacturing facility in Frederick, Colorado. Customer shipments from the expansion are expected in 2026.