BioSpring expands in Offenbach: up to 1,500 new jobs

BioSpring is one of Hessen's flagship companies in the booming biotechnology sector. Having started out in 1997 with just six employees, the company, which is managed by the two managing partners Dr. Sylvia Wojczewski and Dr. Hüseyin Aygün, now employs almost 500 people. Biospring manufactures active ingredients for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry and is a global leader in the production of synthetic DNA and RNA fragments, so-called oligonucleotides, for therapeutic drug applications, for example in cancer therapy and metabolic diseases. Due to its enormous growth, BioSpring was named Hessen Champion in the Job Engine category in 2021. In the long term, BioSpring will invest hundreds of millions in Offenbach. Once completed, the innovation campus will have the world's largest capacities for special oligonucleotide-based active ingredients. Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke emphasizes the enormous importance of the company's fundamental decision to expand strongly in Offenbach:

Managing Director Sylvia Wojczewski: "We are very pleased that this expansion space in Offenbach will allow us to fully exploit our enormous growth potential over the next few years. For BioSpring, the purchase of this industrial site is a major step in shaping our future."

BioSpring expects up to 200 new jobs to be created in Offenbach on the Kettelerstraße site alone, which was acquired in January. The company will convert the former social building of the former Farbwerke Hoechst, demolish the adjoining former canteen and replace it with a modern production facility. According to Managing Director Hüseyin Aygün, the newly acquired site on Mühlheimer Strasse, together with the property on Kettelerstrasse, offers space for up to 1,500 future-proof jobs for predominantly highly qualified employees. The start of construction activities is planned for 2026/2027. The current production and laboratory facilities in Frankfurt-Fechenheim will be retained and expanded. A large part of the administration, which will then also be expanded, will be located in Offenbach in the long term.

According to Hüseyin Aygün, the enormous expansion possibilities will enable BioSpring to increase its production capacities in the long term to up to 30 times its current capacity. This would allow highly innovative active ingredients to be produced on a multi-ton scale in Offenbach in the future. Hüseyin Aygün: "With the enormous expansion possibilities on the Innovation Campus, BioSpring will be able to cover the entire range of product scales for its products. The quality control and analytics departments in Offenbach are also being massively expanded. New products and service divisions are also being created. We are thus sending a strong signal for innovative and future-oriented active ingredient production in Germany."

"Offenbach's strategy of attracting innovative companies is bearing fruit," attests Sylvia Wojczewski to the city. "We are very happy about the conclusion of the purchase agreement with the municipal utility company INNO." This was preceded by intensive and trusting discussions at the highest level between the Offenbach city leadership led by Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke and the management of the biotech company. In this context, Sylvia Wojczewski praised the "excellent support provided by the City of Offenbach" and the "rapid process".

"For me as treasurer, such days are of course also pleasing," says City Treasurer Martin Wilhelm. "The relocation of the Frankfurt-based valve manufacturer Samson AG, one of the world's leading suppliers of intelligent control valves, and the biotech company BioSpring, which is also one of the world's leading companies in its sector, will once again generate high added value for the city in the form of trade tax revenue and jobs in the foreseeable future."

"However, it is important to understand," says Wilhelm, "that it will now take a few more years for such days to become noticeable not only through excavators and construction work, but also in the city's coffers, which are important for the citizens." This in no way dampened the joy, it was just important to keep it in perspective. "You simply have to acknowledge the facts," adds City Planning Councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiß: "After less than five years of work by Lord Mayor Felix Schwenke, very important foundations have been laid for a substantially better future for Offenbach. Prospects that this city has not had for decades."

Meanwhile, the city is working flat out on the development plan for the Innovation Campus, Weiß continued: "The land-use planning procedure is currently in the drafting phase, including the preparation of all necessary expert reports and concepts." The process involves external and internal traffic development, an innovative mobility concept and a parking space key based on this, as well as energy and ecological issues such as photovoltaics and green roofs and façades. To this end, an energy concept, a climate and an environmental report will be drawn up. According to Councillor Weiß, the city council will probably be able to pass a resolution on the public presentation of the B-plan in the spring.

Mayor Schwenke sums up: "I have great respect for the personal achievements of the management, Dr. Wojczewski and Dr. Aygün, and am very grateful for the good cooperation. We are offering the company the opportunity to continue its success story on its own premises and to grow considerably. As long as this is successful, it is good for the health of the people, for the company and for the city. If the plans of Samson and BioSpring work out, more people may be working on the Innovation Campus in the foreseeable future than in the heyday of the post-war decades. In this respect, today is undoubtedly a very good day for Offenbach." Schwenke also expressly emphasized the outstanding support for this project, including from Mayor Sabine Groß, who is currently on vacation.