New Bend Bioscience facility turns drug innovations into reality, for use in clinical trials

(Update: Adding video, comments from Bend Bioscience)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Bend company focused on developing new drugs is expanding and has just opened a new state-of-the-art facility to support clinical trials.

"We focus on the early stages of the drug development," Dan Dobry, chief strategy officer for Bend Bioscience, said Friday. "But manufacturing has been a key part of that, and that's what we do here." 

This is the third location for the pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing company. 

The other two locations are beside each other on Bend's Westside, and serve more of an administrative role and focus on research and development. The new location, will serve as a manufacturing facility, where ideas from research and development are put into practice and will help support clinical trials.

Dobry said, "It's important to be able to make those innovations a reality in the actual manufacturing environment, where we can prove them out in manufacturing actual supplies for our customers, so that they can use them in trials and prove their value to patients."

Clients at Bend Bioscience range from, a few people with an idea to smaller bio-tech or large pharmaceutical companies. 

Head of Operations Devon Dubose said, "The cool part of about this facility is really, with the clients that we started working with today, being able to have the ability to progress their compounds beyond the R&D small-scale phase-in, to kind of the later stages of human clinical trials. You know, I think that's really important."

Bend Bioscience expects the new location to be in operation by the end of the month. 

Here's their news release announcing the new facility:

Bend Bioscience Adds Capacity and Technology Offerings with the Addition of New Process and Manufacturing Science Facility

BEND, Ore., Oct. 5, 2023 -- Bend Bioscience, a preferred partner in drug delivery innovation, development and manufacturing, is thrilled to announce the opening of its state-of-the-art Pharmaceutical Process and Manufacturing Science Facility.

This purpose-built facility of approximately 15,000 square feet is thoughtfully designed to accommodate process identification, development, scale-up and production of high-quality materials to support clinical trials.

This facility is equipped to uphold Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, designed to meet the high-quality expectations of both clients and regulatory authorities.

With a total of seven state-of-the-art processing suites, the design has the capability and capacity to handle a diverse range of client needs. To maintain the highest quality standards of a multi-product facility it incorporates a HEPA-filtered, single pass, unidirectional HVAC system, including separate ingress and egress airlocks on each processing suite.

The modern facility includes a continuously monitored building automation system with electronic data capture as well as an onsite GMP Quality Control lab.

Bend Bioscience is committed to enhancing the client experience, designing the facility to include dedicated visitor and audit hosting spaces. The versatility of Bend Bioscience's advanced suites, including solvent-capable spray drying and low humidity capabilities provides flexibility for tailored solutions to meet the unique needs of each client.

"This new facility seamlessly complements our existing R&D Innovation Lab, and we're excited to now be able to make these innovations a reality and take our clients' programs to the next level with support of further process scale-up and GMP manufacturing" says Dan Dobry, Chief Strategy Officer of Bend Bioscience, and its parent company CoreRx.

"Bend Bioscience invites interested parties, including potential clients, collaborators and partners, to visit its new facility and discover the possibilities it holds for the future of their most important programs."