Spokesperson Erin Crew told Biopharma-Reporter the expansion will boost the firm’s development and manufacturing capacity of human biologics.
“The expansion will increase capacity by one third and allow us to increase both commercial and development products,” she said.
Crew told us the site – which was awarded $25.5m in tax credits from the state – incorporates Boehringer Ingelheim’s service business.
“The facility manufactures Boehringer Ingelheim products and a number of products through our contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) business, which will include both biologics and biosimilars.”
“Currently our focus at the site is oncology, rheumatology and immunology,” she said.
In its current state, the 300,000 square foot facility includes process development labs, large-scale bioreactors and a pilot plant.
The firm said a number of vendors will supply equipment at the renovated facility, but did not disclose specifics.
New jobs
The Ingelheim, Germany-headquartered company said the expansion will add 300 highly-skilled positions to Fremont.
The firm originally bought the facility from Amgen to expand its contract biologics production capabilities in 2011.
In December 2015 Boehringer announced an investment in its Vienna, Austria-based bioproduction facility – which it said would cost €700m - to be operational in 2021.
The company has single-use, stainless steel mammalian cell culture, and microbial fermenter capacities across its four sites in California (US), Germany, China and Austria.