SAFC Expands Carlsbad, Calif. Facility to Support Commercial-Scale Gene Therapy Production, Testing and Filling

ST. LOUIS, May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation's (NASDAQ: SIAL) custom manufacturing business unit, SAFC^® Commercial (www.sigma-aldrich.com/safc), announced today the strategic expansion of its existing facility in Carlsbad, Calif. The investment will further enable SAFC to offer clinical and commercial bulk drug production, as well as fill/finish of viral products for its gene therapy, viral vaccine and immunotherapy customers.

"Gene therapy is an emerging technology, and our SAFC and BioReliance^® sites in Carlsbad, Rockville, and Glasgow have supported this growing industry for years," said Gilles Cottier, President of SAFC. "This investment is pivotal to our customers and reflects SAFC's continued dedication to providing the infrastructure customers need to bring their drugs to market."

The expanded Carlsbad facility complements a global footprint of GMP services in the virus and gene therapy segment, including cell banking in Rockville, Md., and manufacturing in the Glasgow location in Scotland, U.K. The investment was driven by continued interest in targeted gene therapies for indications such as hemophilia and cancer immunotherapies (CAR-T cells).

Utilizing the biosafety testing expertise of BioReliance, the Carlsbad facility provides a full range of GMP manufacturing and testing services to its customers. To learn more about the capabilities at the Carlsbad location, please visit: www.sigmaaldrich.com/safc-carlsbad.

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "is expected," "will enable," "is pivotal" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products or services derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. There can be no guarantee that the services in SAFC's service offering will continue to meet the demands of the marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of these services will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. In particular, management's expectations regarding these services could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About SAFC: SAFC Commercial, the custom manufacturing and services business unit of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, is recognized as a top 10 global specialty chemicals and biologics supplier. As a trusted manufacturer for the life science and high-technology industries, SAFC works closely with customers to resolve development challenges and accelerate the product pipeline using its global "Centers of Excellence" and dedicated manufacturing facilities. Its rich portfolio includes high-purity inorganic materials for high-technology applications, critical raw materials and extensive biologics safety testing services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and complex, high-potent APIs and key intermediates for pharmaceutical manufacturing. For more information, visit www.sigma-aldrich.com/safc.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life Science and Technology company focused on enhancing human health and safety, manufactures and distributes 250,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets. With three distinct business units - Research, Applied and SAFC Commercial - Sigma-Aldrich is committed to enabling science to improve the quality of life. The Company operates in 37 countries, has approximately 9,300 employees worldwide and had sales of $2.79 billion in 2014. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at www.sigma-aldrich.com.

©2015 Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC. All rights reserved. Sigma-Aldrich, SAFC and BioReliance are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC or its affiliates, registered in the U.S. and other countries.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation

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