Getting to know BIA member Just-Evotec Biologics

In this blog, Nick Hutchinson, Associate Vice President of Just-Evotec Biologics, provides insight on their new fully continuous end-to-end manufacturing platform while also giving inspiration to young scientists.

• Tell us about your company and ambitions

Just-Evotec Biologics is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) focused on the production of biotherapeutics. We have a highly innovative continuous manufacturing platform that significantly reduces the costs associated with producing antibody and antibody-related biologics. Our ambition is to reduce the cost of goods manufactured (COGM) of these biologics to $50 / gram or lower and dramatically expand global access to these medicines. We have cGMP manufacturing facilities in the US and France. Just-Evotec Biologics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Evotec, a global biotechnology company that offers pipeline co-creation partnerships and CRO/CDMO services for drug discovery and development.

• What is your company’s biggest achievement so far?

To achieve our mission of expanding global access to biotherapeutics, we have developed a fully continuous end-to-end manufacturing platform. We are the first CDMO in the world that has been able to do this and implement it into cGMP facilities. Achieving this technology milestone has required considerable expertise in bioprocess engineering, cell line development and facility design. Bringing these technologies together is driving down production costs and has led to significant partnerships with the likes of Sandoz.

• What are some of the priorities that you’re currently working on?

In 2024, we opened our new cGMP facility in Toulouse, France. We are very focused on ramping up capacity at this European site. We are also working with clients who want to bring their own continuous biomanufacturing platforms to us for manufacturing projects. We believe that our decade-long experience in continuous manufacturing means we are uniquely positioned to support these projects. We are also constantly seeking ways of improving our services, so we are looking at how we can shorten timelines and reduce costs to serve our first-in-human clients even more effectively.

• What was your motivation behind joining BIA, and what are you looking to achieve?

Evotec has a strong presence in the UK with sites in Abingdon and Alderly Park, but our biologics CDMO services are less well known. Just-Evotec Biologics is keen to participate in the UK biotech community and help companies in the UK that are developing antibody and related therapeutics reach as many patients as possible.

• What excites you about the UK life sciences sector?

The UK life sciences sector is one of the most dynamic life science sectors on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a great ecosystem comprising world-leading academic organisations, an experienced investment community, biotech entrepreneurs, but also large multi-national companies that can help bring products to patients.

• If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why?

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She performed ground-breaking work in X-ray crystallography and determined the structures of vitamin B12, insulin and penicillin, advancing our understanding of their functions. She was known for her humility, integrity and dedication to mentoring young scientists. We named our Milton Park Campus in Abingdon the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Campus in her honour.