Gemini Bioproducts LLC in West Sacramento has greatly expanded its manufacturing capacity for cell culture products for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.
The company previously made products in 500-liter and 1,000-liter batches. It now has a 5,000-liter and two 10,000-liter manufacturing tanks.
"We are now able to serve larger customers and better serve our customers as they scale up their manufacturing," Gemini CEO Brian Parker told the Business Journal.
Founded in 1985, Gemini supplies other companies in the biotechnology industry with cell culture solutions and process liquids that they use to grow, kill, isolate or purify biological products.
The company had a niche in supplying those cell and gene therapy products to startups, but with the larger volume now possible, the company can supply more of the growing industry, Parker said.
The expansion increased Gemini's employee count to 90 workers now, up from 50 two years ago.
"The complexity of the equipment and the processes have gotten much higher," Parker said. Even the steam cleaning of the equipment between batches now requires more experts and process engineers.
Parker declined to say what the cost of the expansion was, other than it was in the many millions of dollars. He also declined to disclose the company's revenue. Gemini is a portfolio company of BelHealth Investment Partners, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based private equity firm focused on health care.
Gemini planned the plant expansion in April 2021 with a goal of opening it in April 2022. Instead, it opened the plant this month following many and various supply chain delays following the pandemic.
"Every time we turned around, something wasn't happening," Parker said. The expansion suffered from difficulties in getting heating and air conditioner components for the buildings, and delays in getting refrigeration components for its two very large freezers. All kinds of electrical gear was hard to find as well, he said. "It was a very painful process."
The company's manufacturing is split between two locations totaling 57,000 square feet in the same business park, one of which produces products that have animal or human components, while a separate location makes animal-free products. Part of the expansion included the installation of two freezers that are large enough to drive forklifts into and which can store hundreds of pallets. One of them is an 8-degree freezer and the other is minus-20-degree freezer. In addition to the freezers, Gemini installed a very large temperature-control system into what had been a warehouse without air conditioning. All that work required the company to bring more power capacity to the property from the utility, he said.
The production areas of Gemini are certified as current Good Manufacturing Process space, which are standards for consistent quality and safety in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. It also has certification from the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, and is registered as a Class 1 medical device manufacturer by the Food and Drug Administration.
