Avirmax Opens New Gene Therapy Facility

Avirmax, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector-mediated biotherapeutics, has launched its new outsourcing facility in Hayward, Calif. on May 11, 2023. The facility, intended for contract development and manufacturing services, will specialize in AAV gene therapy research and development.

According to a May 15, 2023 press release, the facility is 20,000 ft² and contains current good manufacturing practice suites, as well as developmental and testing laboratories. The facility is equipped with single-use bioreactors at 50-L, 200-L, and 1000-L production scales. According to the release, it can deliver rAAV drug product at 1016-18 vector genome per batch within approximately 200 days starting from a transgene DNA plasmid.

"Your business will complement the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] Centers of the middle and high schools, and when students graduate and are looking for jobs, we will send them here first," said Mark Salinas, mayor, Hayward, in an inauguration speech held for the facility.