To the Forge community:
It’s been just over one year since Forge Biologics joined Ajinomoto Group, and three months since I became Forge’s CEO. When I’m asked why I so firmly believe Ajinomoto is the best partner for Forge, I always point to our shared focus on serving our clients and their patient communities – and our belief in fostering a rewarding workplace that prioritizes our team to create enduring value. This foundation has always propelled our success and lines up effortlessly with Ajinomoto’s Shared Value initiative, “ASV,” creating a partnership that has been both seamless and deeply impactful.
Strengthening our focus on manufacturing excellence
One year later, we are doubling down on our world-class manufacturing services, including focusing exclusively on our CDMO business to help our clients navigate the complex process of scaling up gene therapies to reach patients in need. As a part of this strategic focus on manufacturing, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue our internal clinical program FBX-101 for the treatment of patients with Krabbe disease. As we wind down this program, Forge will continue to support the appropriate follow up and transition activities for enrolled patients.
As we look ahead in 2025, focusing on our technical operations is essential to future success as we navigate the next critical stages of our evolution. Our efforts are grounded in four key pillars that support our business: our talented team, commitment to quality, dedication to operational excellence, and collaboration with innovative clients—all of which ultimately benefit patients. I’ve outlined several key areas of focus to demonstrate this intent in action for 2025:
- Technical Hiring: We plan to significantly expand our technical operations teams based on our demand, notably in key growth areas including MS&T, quality, manufacturing operations, and analytics.
- Additional Capacity to Meet Growing Demand: In anticipation of increased demand, we are executing on a multi-year Site Master Plan to build out additional capacity at our facility, the Hearth.
- Quality Systems & Operations for Commercial Success: As our clients progress more clinical programs, we will continue to advance our quality systems, automated systems, and internal controls in preparation for a wave of new drug approvals for commercial distribution. We recently implemented a new LIMS quality system, enabling faster and more reliable quality reviews for our clients. Looking ahead, we plan to roll out a holistic data vision that emphasizes strategic data utilization and integrity.
- Ongoing Infrastructure Upgrades: We are continuously improving the utility infrastructure at the Hearth and most recently completed a large power redundancy project, with additional projects planned in 2025.
Forging ahead in 2025
As we enter what promises to be a pivotal year for the gene therapy industry, I want to express my deep gratitude to the 360+ employees of Forge and to the Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services Group for their collaboration in enabling business opportunity expansion. By sharing this vision for 2025, we aim to provide our colleagues and partners with a clear understanding of our strategic direction as we navigate a rapidly evolving industry. More importantly, I hope you share the pride I feel in all we have already accomplished together. Thank you for your continued trust and partnership.
John Maslowski
President & CEO