Shire opens $1.2bn, six-years-in-the-making facility
The US facility encompasses an area more than one million-square-feet and cost $1.2bn (€1.05bn) to construct.
Based in Stanton Springs, Georgia, the space currently employs 900 staff members, but once the site is fully operational, this will increase to approximately 1,500 full-time staff.
Shire’s immunology portfolio proved key when it released its second-quarter financials, revealing that the segment delivered 13% growth and noting that this included “significant contributions from our subcutaneous immunoglobulin portfolio.”
The output at the facility will be gammagard liquid 10% solution, which is created from human plasma and used to deliver antibodies to patients with primary immunodeficiency.
The US Food and Drug Administration gave the site approval in June to produce the therapy. At the time, a spokesperson for Shire told us that the new site would improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process.
The spokesperson explained, “With fractionation, purification and filling at the same plant, Covington has the potential to increase efficiency and speed in the manufacturing process to bring our plasma-derived therapies to patients faster.”
Plans for the site were originally begun through the company Baxalta, which was acquired by Shire in 2016. Now, Shire stands ready to be acquired by Takeda, meaning that the facility will have changed hands three times in as many years.
