On Thursday, AGC Biologics, located on the corner of Nelson Road and Airport Road, offered a guided tour of its facilities to the Longmont business community. Leaders associated with the Longmont Chamber of Commerce and Longmont Economic Development Partnership gathered to learn more about the pharmaceutical development manufacturer.
AGC Biologics took over the facility in Longmont in 2021. The campus has been the home to several pharmaceutical companies in the past including Amgen and Novartis Gene Therapies.
AGC Biologics does not work on therapies for everyday ailments such as headaches. It works on rare disease treatments such as cancer treatment by developing cell and gene therapies said Whitney Sandberg, Colorado site general manager.
Tour guides showed the group into small labs that developed gene therapies for cancer patients. Development for these therapies can take one to two, so the labs are designed to allow equipment to be easily moved in and out as needed.
Travis Sadowski, senior director of quality control, shared how each process step is documented in detail and expressed the importance of testing each product thoroughly to ensure the best results.
The tour passed through several labs in the analytic development and process development departments and demonstrated the precision that goes into each phase of gene and cell therapy development. Most of the work begins on a small scale and, if applicable, is moved to another part of the facility to begin production on a larger scale.
Jeff Rosenbloom, director at AGC Biologics, said there are many products in various phases of development across the world. The company tries to adopt some of those products and bring them to market to help the most people it can.
“We want to take these products and help them get to the market to help treat these patients. There are a ton of opportunity here,” Rosenbloom said.
AGC Biologics has hired 112 people this year, 26% of those people are from outside of Colorado. It is looking to hire more local people and works with the St. Vrain Valley School District and Front Range Community College to support a local pipeline.
“What we do is so impactful to humans, to society as a whole, but also what we are looking to bring in from a resource perspective. I think it is very important for a community because people come here and see what we do and they stay here,” Sandberg said.
