Laureate Pharma, a partner company of Safeguard Scientifics, announced plans to invest up to $9 million to expand its biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Princeton, NJ.

The facility expansion will provide Laureate Pharma with a new pilot production plant with two separate production suites, and expanded purification production capacity to support additional cGMP production. The new pilot plant will include stainless steel stirred tank bioreactors and disposable single use bioreactors - the same technologies used in Laureate's large-scale, cGMP biomanufacturing facility.

The pilot plant is designed for process development, production and purification of early-phase preclinical proteins and is isolated from Laureate's main manufacturing area. New equipments to be installed include bioprocess purification systems, analytical testing systems and associated equipment.

Employment at Laureate is expected to grow by 15 per cent by year-end, in response to increased demand.

"2006 has been a very strong year for Laureate Pharma," said Robert Broeze, PhD, Laureate's President and CEO. "In anticipation of continued growth, we are significantly increasing our development and manufacturing capacity to meet our clients' current and future needs."

"This expansion will enable Laureate Pharma, our partner company, to accommodate increased customer demand for protein-based biopharmaceutical products, without disruption to on-going customer projects," said James Datin, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Life Sciences of Safeguard Scientifics.

Construction on the expansion has already started, with completion of the pilot production suites targeted for the end of 2006. The additional cGMP capacity is expected to be operational in mid-2007. Laureate's primary engineering firm for the project is CE&IC of Burlington, NJ.