Company

About

Sartorius is a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, the Group’s Lab Products & Services Division focuses on the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. The Bioprocess Solutions Division, with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions, helps customers to manufacture biotech medications, vaccines and cell and gene therapies safely, rapidly and economically.

Based in Göttingen, Germany, Sartorius has a strong global reach with around 60 production and sales sites and around 14,600 employees worldwide; the group generated sales revenue of around 3.4 billion euros in 2023.

Sartorius regularly expands its portfolio through the acquisition of complementary technologies. In 2021, the company, through its subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech, acquired a majority stake in the raw material manufacturer CellGenix GmbH.

Sartorius CellGenix GmbH, as it is now called, is a leading global supplier of high quality raw and ancillary materials for the expanding market of cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine. Sartorius CellGenix develops, manufactures and markets human cytokines, growth factors, and other recombinant cell culture components in preclinical and GMP quality as well as proprietary serum-free media for further manufacturing of ATMPs. As a former ATMP developer and manufacturer, in three decades Sartorius CellGenix gained in-depth cell processing knowledge and superior regulatory expertise. With this unique background, Sartorius CellGenix understands the high requirements their customers are facing during product development and the regulatory approval process.

To meet the increasing demand of GMP quality raw materials for ATMP manufacturing Sartorius CellGenix is continuing to expand its manufacturing capacities in Freiburg, Germany.

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Company Milestones

1994 Foundation of CellGenix as a spin-off from the University Medical Center Freiburg 

1995 First European establishment and GMP manufacturing license for blood stem cells according to the German Drug Law 

1995-2012 GMP processing of cell therapy products (blood stem cells, CD34+ enriched hematopoietic stem cells, cord blood stem cells, dendritic cells, and chondrocytes (more than 10.000 cell products processed) 

1996 Joint venture with Schering AG (Berlin, Germany) to establish Metreon Bioproducts GmbH 

1997 First serum-free medium for hematopoietic stem cell expansion 

2000 Strategic alliance with Afc Inc. (acquired by St. Gobain in 2013), (Gaithersburg USA) and establishment of US representation 

2000 First GMP serum-free medium for dendritic cell differentiation 

2001 Inauguration of new GMP facility at Freiburg airport 

2002 GMP manufacturing authorization for patient-specific, recombinant idiotype vaccine 

2002-2012 GMP manufacturing of recombinant protein pharmaceuticals/vaccines 

2003 First serum-free GMP chondrocyte cultivation process 

2002 Launch of first GMP grade cytokine for ex vivo use (IL-4) 

2003 First FDA Drug Master File for Interleukin 4 

Since 2012 ISO 9001 certification 

2018 Prof. Dr. Felicia M. Rosenthal, co-founder and managing director of CellGenix GmbH receives the award of the Economic Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg  

2018-2020 Capacity expansion at Freiburg Airport 

2020 Launch of novel serum- and xeno-free T cell Medium 

2021 Sartorius acquires majority stake 

2022 Construction for a new GMP manufacturing and R&D facility in Freiburg-Haid started