When Kindeva Drug Delivery spun out of 3M earlier this year, its CEO promised the company would lay out significant cash to expand its production sites, adding new jobs along the way. This week, the CDMO took its first steps toward putting that plan into action.
Kindeva said it will break ground later this year on a new operations center near its St. Paul, Minnesota site. The 136,000-square-foot facility, slated for $1.34 million in funding from the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development, will include a distribution warehouse and light industrial center, Area Development reports.
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Kindeva—a global CDMO with a heavy drug-delivery bent—produces intradermal microneedles, inhalers, transdermal patches and other medical devices. Formerly 3M Drug Delivery Systems, Kindeva in May launched as an independent company on the heels of a $650 million Altaris Capital Partners buyout.
The company's current workforce of 900 operates sites in Minnesota, California and the U.K. Its microneedle-based drug delivery platforms are in "dozens" of development programs for osteoporosis drugs, immunotherapies, COVID-19 vaccines and other hard-to-deliver meds, the company said.
Meanwhile, Kindeva aims to build on its decades of 3M experience as it plows ahead with an "ambitious growth plan that involves significant capital investment and the addition of new jobs across our operating regions," CEO Aaron Mann said earlier this year.
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Kindeva's lineup includes smart devices as well: In 2016, the company unveiled its app-connected Intelligent Control Inhaler, designed to improve inhaler technique via on-screen instructions and track usage data for patients and doctors. In its last year at 3M, Kindeva's drug delivery business brought in $406 million in revenue, down from $444 million in 2018 and $486 million the year before that, according to 3M's yearly report (PDF).
But Kindeva's path hasn't been without its bumps. Back in early 2019, when Kindeva still operated under the 3M banner, the company made headlines when its client Alvogen recalled two lots of transdermal fentanyl patches. The Kindeva-made patches were pulled after "a small number of cartons" labeled as 12 mcg/h were found to contain 50 mcg/h patches, an FDA notice said.