Catalent, the New Jersey-based CDMO, is initiating a $200 million investment to expand its drug manufacturing and drug product fill/finish capacity at two of its plants as part of a program that will be phased in over the next three years.
The capital investment program targets the company’s biologics manufacturing sites in Madison, Wisconsin, and Bloomington, Indiana. The news come on the heels of last month’s announcement that the CDMO would spend $14 million to expand packaging capabilities at the Bloomington plant.
Work at the Madison facility will focus on mammalian cell culture capacity with the construction of two new suites, featuring a 2 x 2,000 liter single-use bioreactor system. That work is expected to be completed by the middle of 2021. The project will more than double Catalent’s commercial biomanufacturing capacity.
The fill/finish capacity at the Bloomington plant will be expanded by 79,000 square feet and will include a high-speed flexible vial line. The addition will allow for a filling speed of 300 units per minute and will include a high-speed flexible syringe/cartridge line with a filling speed of more than 300 units per minute.
“The expansions at both sites will support our customers’ development programs and commercial launches,” Barry Littlejohns, president of Catalent Biologics and Specialty Drug Delivery, said in a statement. “Catalent’s continued investments in innovative technologies and flexible capacity allow us to offer the most comprehensive solutions to bring important and innovative treatments to markets faster.”
In early December, after ringing up 20 new drug approvals for the Indiana facility and having nabbed a $950 million deal for Cook Pharmica earlier, Catalent announced it would invest nearly $14 million in the plant. That move is expected to add 36 jobs. The plant currently employs about 900.