Life Technologies to Build Additional $20 Million State of the Art Cell Culture Facility in Scotland

Scottish Government support attracts investment over US and Asia competition

GLASGOW, Scotland, April 24, 2012 /CNW/ - Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE) announced a major expansion of the existing manufacturing facilities at its European, Middle East and Africa headquarters at Inchinnan near Glasgow.

The $20 million investment will increase the company's capabilities to support the rising demand of its GIBCO® cell culture products used for biological drug research, development and production, and secures the supply chain for Europe, Americas and Asia - further establishing Life Technologies' Bioproduction leadership position as a partner to pharmaceutical companies developing biological therapies. 

This investment is linked to ongoing support from Scottish Enterprise to assist the venture to enlarge Life Technologies' global manufacturing network for proprietary Advanced Granulated Technology (AGT™) and dry powder media under the GIBCO® brand, which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

The company currently employs 500 people at the Inchinnan site, many in the manufacture of cell culture products used in biological drug production. AGT™ media is the fastest growing segment in the GIBCO® cell culture portfolio and is used in a large number of commercial and late-phase drugs.  This offering provides biopharmaceutical customers and contract manufacturing organization (CMO) partners with a ready-to-use media format that eliminates time consuming steps in media preparation and uses only animal origin free (AOF) components.

"We are pleased to be partnering with the Scottish Government on this important project and are grateful for its support," said Gregory T. Lucier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Life Technologies.

"Our investment in this facility now provides a secure, complementary supply chain source for media used in life saving therapeutics while also addressing the growing global demand for our cell culture media products, specifically AGT™."

"We have a skilled workforce in Scotland whose commitment gives us a competitive advantage and allows us to serve our customers with high quality products."

Scotland's Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said: "This investment is a welcome boost for Scotland's economy and I'm delighted that Life Technologies have decided to expand their facility at Inchinnan."

"Scotland's life sciences research is rightly regarded as among the very best in the world and developments like this help to continue to build on that enviable reputation for the future."

Anne MacColl, chief executive of Scottish Development International, said: "Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International have worked closely with Life Technologies to provide an integrated package of support towards this expansion of its manufacturing facilities at Inchinnan."

"The fact that Life Technologies views Scotland as the ideal place to grow its business is testament to Scotland's growing reputation as a key player on an international level." "We very much welcome this announcement and look forward to continuing to work with the company and in doing so, we can help generate long-term sustainable growth for the Scottish economy."

Life Technologies expects to break ground at the Inchinnan site in 2013 and start to ship product from the facility in 2014.

About Life Technologies

Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global biotechnology company with customers in more than 160 countries using its innovative solutions to solve some of today's most difficult scientific challenges. Quality and innovation are accessible to every lab with its reliable and easy-to-use solutions spanning the biological spectrum with more than 50,000 products for translational research, molecular medicine and diagnostics, stem cell-based therapies, forensics, food safety and animal health. Its systems, reagents and consumables represent some of the most cited brands in scientific research including: Ion Torrent™, Applied Biosystems®,  Invitrogen™, GIBCO®, Ambion, Molecular Probes®, Novex®, and TaqMan®. Life Technologies employs approximately 10,400 people and upholds its ongoing commitment to innovation with more than 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses. LIFE had sales of $3.7 billion in 2011. Visit us at our website: http://www.lifetechnologies.com.

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Media Contact:

David Robertson
Life Technologies Leader, External Communications, Europe Middle East & Africa
Email: [email protected]
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