In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thermo Fisher Scientific quickly expanded its manufacturing capacity at its Greenville, North Carolina plant to meet demand. The expansion involved adding a new production suite, safeguarding quality, and enabling sufficient production flexibility.
During the expansion, the plant upgraded its existing Distributed Control System (DCS) to support the production of two vital pharmaceuticals during the pandemic. The first was for the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) from Gilead Sciences. FDA approved Veklury to treat patients with COVID-19 needing hospitalization. Thermo Fisher Scientific retooled the plant to manufacture the EUA-authorized Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
When retooling their plant, Thermofisher upgraded their DCS, which supports the production, conveying and handling of pharmaceuticals.
In late 2020, boosting the manufacturing of antivirals for those hospitalized with COVID-19 was critical, according…