TOKYO: Fujifilm Corp. said Thursday it will spend over 200 billion yen to establish a new manufacturing site for biopharmaceutical products in the United States.

The Japanese company aims to expand its production capacity for biopharmaceuticals to meet growing demand as they are said to be highly effective while having relatively few side effects.

The new facility will offer large-scale cell culture manufacturing of bulk drug substance and provide automated fill-finish and assembly, packaging and labeling services. It is scheduled to begin operations in spring 2025.

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly outsourcing production of biopharmaceuticals as they require advanced manufacturing technologies and equipment.

The Fujifilm Holdings Corp. unit has set a goal of doubling annual revenue from its biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business to 200 billion yen in fiscal 2024 from four years before.