Vigene Plans Major Expansion in Maryland

Vigene Biosciences, a global gene therapy development company, has unveiled plans to expand into a new facility in Montgomery County in Maryland to accommodate industry demand for its gene and cellular therapy products. In addition to its existing headquarters, R&D and manufacturing locations in Rockville, the company will lease 52,000 square-feet of manufacturing space at 14200 Shady Grove Road, bringing the total lab and manufacturing space of the company to 110,000 square feet. Vigene will retain its current 125 employees and add up to 245 new jobs by the end of 2025.

“Vigene serves over 4,000 clients worldwide, including our recently announced collaboration with Gaithersburg’s Altimmune to manufacture its single-dose intranasal vaccine candidate for COVID-19,” said Zairen Sun, president and chief executive officer. “This new facility will allow us to support our customers as they move beyond clinical development into commercial scale manufacturing.”

Founded in 2012, Vigene Biosciences’ mission is to make gene therapy affordable for patients with cancer and serious genetic disorders. The company develops, manufactures and distributes state-of-the-art adeno-associated viruses (AAV), lentivirus, retrovirus, adenovirus and plasmid viral vectors for gene delivery. In 2016, Vigene acquired Omnia Biologics with its significant clinical manufacturing experience to respond to growing product demand as gene therapy candidates progressed to clinical trials. The company’s global clientele includes pharmaceutical and biotech companies, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations and academic institutions.