Centennial State News

According to a release on the Governor's Office Website, Gov. Jared Polis announced Agilent chose Frederick, Colo., for its expansion.

“This exciting addition to Colorado’s thriving bioscience and life science industry brings hundreds of good paying jobs to Frederick, Weld County, and our state and builds upon our work making Colorado the best place to live, work, and do business."

Agilent announced on Monday, Jan. 9 that it would double manufacturing capacity at its Frederick location, with an investment of approximately $725 million. The company will focus on therapeutic nucleic acids, also called therapeutic oligonucleotides or oligos, with this expansion. Therapeutic nucleic acids "are short DNA and RNA molecules that serve as the API for drugs targeting a growing number of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare and infectious diseases," according to the company's website.

“One of our strategic priorities is to help existing and new biopharma customers develop, globally commercialize, and accelerate the growth of oligo-based therapeutics,” Sam Raha, president of Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group, said on Agilent's website. “This additional capacity will enable us to meet strong demand for siRNA and antisense molecules and also significantly increase the number of CRISPR guide RNA programs we can take on.”

Bioscience and life science jobs in Colorado generate $12.3 billion in annual sales, with more than 32,000 workers directly employed. Between 2010 and 2019, employment in the sector grew by more than 34%.

“The Town of Frederick is proud to be home to a state-of-the-art facility that is committed to advancing quality of life through life science research. Bettering lives and creating community vitality are paramount to what Frederick is built on," Frederick Mayor Tracie Crites said in the release. "We congratulate Agilent’s success and look forward to their thriving future in our community."