Drug services companies invest in ADCs

As pharmaceutical companies embrace antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) as a way to treat cancer, drug services providers are investing in capacity to meet the companies’ manufacturing needs. MilliporeSigma, the drug services arm of Merck KGaA, says it will invest $76 million to manufacture ADCs for cancer therapies. The new funding will triple the company’s ADC capacity in Saint Louis. And Sterling Pharma Solutions, a UK-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), says it will spend $12 million to expand ADC manufacturing capacity in Deeside, Wales. The investment will go toward a 214 m 2 suite with 500 L reactors used to carry out ADC bioconjugation, which will more than double the site’s existing capacity. Earlier this year, Veranova, a US drug services company, said it would spend $30 million to expand ADC manufacturing at its facility in Devens, Massachusetts. ADCs are compounds in which a small-molecule anticancer drug is attached to