Agilent will double oligonucleotide capacity

Abstract

Agilent Technologies says it will spend $725 million to double its manufacturing capacity for therapeutic nucleic acids, or oligonucleotides. The project is the latest in a round of industry investment responding to fast growth in a market that Agilent currently values at $1 billion per year. The project will add two oligonucleotide manufacturing lines at Agilent’s Frederick, Colorado, facility, where a production line announced in 2020 is expected to begin operating later this year. Agilent says shipments from the two new lines will start in 2026. Oligonucleotides are short DNA and RNA molecules that serve as the active ingredients for drugs that target cancer and cardiovascular, rare, and infectious diseases. Agilent says the expansion addresses a growing demand for double-stranded small interfering RNA and antisense RNA molecules, as well as molecules employed in gene-editing technologies. Agilent’s news comes on the heels of the purchase by BioSpring, a contract manufacturer of