pharmaceutical manufacturing Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Schott Pharma commits $371 million to new U.S. manufacturing facility for GLP-1, mRNA therapies

Pharma packaging company Schott Pharma has unveiled plans to establish a new manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina. Schott Pharma says the $371 million investment in the U.S. facility will create more than 400 jobs in the region and significantly expand the company’s presence in the U.S., an increasingly important strategic market for the German company.

Schott also announced an expansion of its Müllheim manufacturing plant in February, which is shown on our map of 2024 facility openings and expansions.

Polymer syringe production a focus

The new site will be the first in the U.S. to manufacture prefillable polymer syringes, which are stored under deep-cold storage in the case of mRNA medications. It will also produce glass prefillable syringes for GLP-1 therapies used to treat diabetes and obesity. The company expects the facility to triple Schott Pharma’s contribution of glass and polymer syringes to the U.S. market by 2030.

Schott P…

New pharma and biotech manufacturing facilities and expansions announced worldwide for 2024

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The pharma and biotech sectors continue to rapidly transform in response to rising demand for innovative therapies. While less fortunate players are shedding jobs, in 2024, major players like AbbVie, AGC Biologics, and Amgen are investing heavily in new manufacturing facilities worldwide, from Singapore to Japan and the U.S. Companies expanding in North Carolina, Ohio, and Iceland signal a push to make innovative medicines and advanced therapies more accessible globally.

The map below shows select new plant openings and expansions announced in 2024, with 8 in North America and 15 in other regions

North America United States Amgen opened a new AI-enabled biomanufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio, employing roughly 400 people. The $365 million investment features automation, AI, and data-driven manufacturing processes. Amgen also plans to advance drug discovery using AI models at deC…

Amgen opens AI-enabled Ohio biomanufacturing facility

CEO Bob Bradway rallies the manufacturing team at Amgen Ohio with a chant of “OH-IO.”

Earlier this year, NVIDIA and Amgen revealed plans to analyze one of the world’s largest human datasets using AI models trained on an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD in Iceland. Now, Amgen is signaling its continued commitment to cutting-edge tech with a ribbon cutting for an advanced biomanufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio.

Known as Amgen Ohio, the facility is designed to uphold the company’s reputation for quality and reliability. It will play a significant role in producing innovative biomedicines to address serious diseases, employing approximately 400 people across various roles.

The new facility “was designed with the latest innovation and technology to deliver safe, reliable medicines for ‘every patient, every time,’” said Bob Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer at Amgen.

Amge…

Navigating the new regulatory terrain pharma companies face with IRA and 340B

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The ever-evolving landscape of pharmaceutical regulations has long been challenging to navigate, but now pharma companies face additional complexities with the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the ongoing implementation of the 340B drug pricing program. In recent years, the IRA has made waves for its impact on the pharmaceutical industry, including proposals to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time and imposing rebates on drug price increases that outpace inflation. Additionally, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which was created in 1992, is a U.S. federal government program that aims to allow healthcare organizations to offer affordable prescription drugs to underserved and low-income populations. In 2021, 340B backed entities purchased $43.9 billion worth of covered outpatient drugs under the program.

To get a clearer sense of how the indu…

Biden names 31 tech hubs: Here are 10 relevant to pharma and biotech

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Traditionally, the tech and biotech sectors in the U.S. have been concentrated in a handful of regions — most notably in areas such as Boston, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Southern California. But the Biden administration aims to distribute innovation more evenly through the U.S. To that end, the administration has designated 31 tech hubs across the U.S. to help drive innovation and job creation in a variety of industries.

These tech hubs are part of a competitive program involving $500 million in federal funding, with each hub eligible to apply for $50–$75 million to drive innovation in their respective focus areas. Here, we highlight 10 hubs that are especially relevant to the pharma and biotech sectors, describing their unique focus areas.

Three of the regions were featured in an earlier Drug Discovery & Development roundup on emerging biotech hubs: Baltimore, Maryland; Mad…

Purdue University launches institute for advanced manufacturing of pharmaceuticals

Thanks to a donation from pharma industry veteran William D. Young, Purdue University has announced plans to launch a new institute dedicated to furthering pharmaceutical manufacturing to reduce costs and bolster access to new biotech drugs.

The William D. Young Institute for Advanced Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals is named after the eponymous chemical engineer, who graduated from Purdue in 1966. Yong went on to become the chief operating officer of Genentech from 1980 to 1999. Young is now a senior advisor to Blackstone Life Sciences (South San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts).

“We’re honored to receive this gift from a man with a global reputation as a talented chemical engineer who built an outstanding technical and management record in pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels in a statement. “Everyone in pharma knows that having Bill Young’s name on the sign means we will be working to the highest standards and…