Posted on October 20, 2023 by Aldevron
Aldevron’s People: Our Approach to Opportunities
In May, Aldevron celebrated the expansion of our manufacturing facility in Madison, and I had the opportunity to speak to and thank our associates about the incredible growth of the company’s offerings over the last 25 years. In that time, we have expanded our manufacturing capacity from one small lab to 400,000 square feet spread over four campuses. And most recently, we have grown our capabilities so we can now offer full, end-to-end mRNA production, from master cell bank to drug product.
I joined Aldevron in July of 2009 and was deeply involved in starting our protein business unit. It was challenging in those days, since we had not finalized a lease on a facility. We wrote our first proposal for a large pharma company to make Rho-associated kinases (ROCK) – enzymes that are used for studying cancer. The order came through on a fax machine, and we were so excited.
From the beginning, Aldevron has valued unconstrained thinking as part of its culture. That’s why we didn’t hesitate to pursue Big Pharma customers in those early days, even before we had permanent lab space. To this day, we have a mindset that anything is possible, and we try to make those big dreams happen for our associates, our clients, and the patients we serve.
Our recent partnership with CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and the team of researchers at the Innovative Genomics Institute in California embodies our culture of unconstrained thinking. They came to us with a need for a protein with very low endotoxin contamination, because they wanted to be able to inject it into a mouse brain to edit neural cells as an experimental treatment for Huntington’s disease, a terrible neurodegenerative disorder. Thanks to our experience making thousands of proteins, we knew how to develop a manufacturing method with very low endotoxin contamination. As a result, we were chosen to collaborate with Jennifer Doudna on this important study, which resulted in the publication of a peer-reviewed article in the journal Molecular Therapy.
Another aspect of our culture that I really value is that we keep the patient experience front and center in our work at Aldevron. One of the patients who has inspired our associates is James Griffin, who has sickle cell disease and is a vocal advocate for medical innovation. He told me recently that visiting Aldevron “is a great opportunity to say to your associates, ‘I live with sickle cell, and the work you're doing is helping me.’”
We also are benefitting immeasurably from being part of Danaher, a science and technology powerhouse. We really value the opportunity to expand our products and services globally through Danaher’s existing commercial networks. We can manufacture and deliver DNA and RNA by working with Cytiva, and analytical testing with SCIEX, Beckman, and Molecular Devices Pall. And Precision Nanosystems has the ability to formulate and encapsulate mRNA for in vivo delivery. Danaher’s strong network allows us to collaborate across sites but also helps us recruit some of the best scientists in the world.
I can describe Aldevron’s people in one succinct quote, which I highlight on my LinkedIn profile: “It's all about the client experience, excellent science and scaling trust.” That has been the north star of how we have built this company, and it will continue to guide us as we look forward to the next 25 years.
Tom Foti
Vice President/General Manager, Protein Business Unit
