The University of Delaware’s STAR campus is preparing to welcome a new piece of the state’s growing biopharmaceutical industry.
Work is beginning on the 90,000-square-foot Securing American Biomanufacturing Research and Education Center or SABRE Center.
The Center is part of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals or NIIMBL - and designed to be a pilot-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility that will also train workers in biopharmaceuticals.
"It will enable biopharma companies to test their innovations, do research and development and to pilot manufacturing technologies for products that can save lives and advance wellness," said UD President Dennis Assanis.
Officials hope the facility can lure biopharmaceutical companies to Delaware as well as draw high-level talent from NIIMBL companies to collaborate.
"We envision the SABRE Center as a place to scale up and to mature manufacturing innovations necessary to ensure broad access to novel biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and ultimately to the medicines that they make,” said Kelvin Lee, NIIMBL Director. “We also envision the SABRE Center as a place to design, collaborate and disseminate best practices for training a skilled manufacturing workforce."
Development of the SABRE Center is fueled by $45 million dollars in federal funding - including $10 from the American Rescue Plan.
“NIIMBL’s new SABRE Center will be a key asset strengthening Delaware as a hub for biopharmaceutical manufacturing far into the future,” said Sen. Chris Coons.
The center also received just over 12 million dollars in the FY 2024 appropriations bill signed into law last month.
“This facility will be a training center for our future biopharmaceutical workforce, as well as a testing center for biopharma companies to test their products in an FDA-regulated environment – giving us a competitive advantage to attract companies and researchers to the First State," said Sen. Tom Carper.
The SABRE Center will be located north of the Ammon Pinnizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center on the STAR Campus.
