The completion of the new facility comes about a year and a half after the groundbreaking. The facility is more than three times the size of the old building, The company will also be expanding its staff as it expands its operations.

Lori Daane, who joined Bionique as chief scientific officer in the spring of 2024, explained how the new space opens many possibilities for the future. Bionique specializes in testing for mycoplasma — a bacteria that causes respiratory illness and is notoriously difficult to fight since it is immune to antibiotics.

“It’s an organism that no one wants to touch because it’s a type of organism that if it’s in your facility, it’s very difficult to detect, and it can wreak havoc on a bioproduction facility,” she said.

This is just one of the many specialized tests that need to be run on pharmaceutical products before they can eventually reach patients. Daane said Bionique has a reputation for reliable, quality work. She said it was their clients who started asking them to expand into other types of testing services. The first priorities that Bionique is expanding into includes sterility testing, which basically tests samples for bacteria, yeast and mold. It’s yet another requirement that pharmaceutical companies need to run on their products and sometimes outsource to companies like Bionique.

Harrietstown Supervisor Jordanna Mallach speaks at the grand opening ceremony for the company’s new lab facility in Saranac Lake on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

They are also preparing to test products for endotoxins. This is a certain type of toxin that particular types of bacteria — gram-negative bacteria — produce. Even when the bacteria is removed or dies, some of that toxin can still be left behind, so many products need to also be tested for this.

Interestingly enough, the original test for endotoxins uses horseshoe crab blood, which has a unique property that causes it to coagulate when mixed with an endotoxin. There are also more recent, synthetic versions of this test which don’t use animal blood — Bionique is preparing to offer both types, since some requirements still specify use of the original method.

Bionique is still in the pilot phase of implementing these new services, since there are many levels of documentation and requirements that need to be met. Daane said they expect these services to go live within a year.

The new building, in addition to being larger, also has flexible labs that can be adapted to different uses. This comes down to a type of “modular” design, where the exact conditions of the rooms can be independently adjusted.

This means that the company will be positioned to potentially provide more services in the future.

Visitors and Bionique staff mingle outside the new lab facility after the grand opening ceremony in Saranac Lake on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“It’s almost like becoming a one-stop-shop to help these clients,” Daane said. “And we already have that relationship.”

In 2021, Bionique was acquired by the Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei. Yusuke Kanazawa, head of the Asahi Kasei bioprocess division, was among the international leaders who came to Saranac Lake for Friday’s celebration. He complimented the resilience of the staff, who worked out of temporary trailers during the construction.

“Saranac Lake is not just a beautiful place, it is a community that fosters innovation and collaboration,” he said.

Harrietstown Supervisor Jordanna Mallach seconded the sentiment, praising the active role that Bionique and its staff play in the community.

“As local government, it’s such an important reminder that the work we do doesn’t just impact the people that live here and the people who vote. It impacts the people that work here,” she said. “As local government, we can strengthen our communities by strengthening that connection and ensuring that that investment is occurring.”

The pharmaceutical industry — and the many levels of testing and regulation that go into it — is complex. Bionique occupies an important, but niche, part of that picture. In her remarks, Bionique CEO Gladis Zamparo said they take their role in reliability and safety seriously.

“We always have the ultimate patient in mind,” she said. “If our testing is accurate, the patient is safe.”