The $200m (€173m) investment will take place at Catalent’s biologics manufacturing sites in Madison, Wisconsin, and Bloomington, Indiana. The decision follows the expansion of its biologics packaging capacity, at the latter site.
The improvement upon current capacity in drug substance manufacturing and fill/finish will take place over three years.
It will see mammalian cell culture capacity increased with two new suites, each housing a two 2,000 litre single-use bioreactor system. Fill/finish capacity will be increased by an expanded Bloomington site, which will grow by 79,000-sq-ft to accommodate a high-speed flexible vial line operating at 300 units per minute.
Brian Riley, VP of operations, biologics and specialty drug delivery at Catalent, told us that the expansion is required to meet increasing demand in the late-stage clinical and commercial supply phases.
“The Bloomington facility recently achieved regulatory approval for a twentieth commercial product, so part of the expansion at both sites is necessary to fulfil increasing demand from existing customers’ programs, but the expansion is also in anticipation of new business too,” Riley explained.
The upgrade to both facilities will also add new staff members over the coming years. Riley could not specify a precise number but said, “we anticipate adding over 100 new roles in Madison, and up to 200 new jobs in Bloomington by the end of 2024.
Catalent acquired the Bloomington facility as part of its $950m takeover of Cook Pharmica in 2017. Subsequently, the company revealed that it would be looking to the site, with it operating at 45% of its capacity upon acquisition.
