Pfizer plans to expand its largest manufacturing site, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to support the rollout of COVID-19 drug Paxlovid, a local report says.
The expansion will create hundreds of “highly-skilled” jobs, MLive, a Michigan-based news organization, reports. A Pfizer spokesperson said the drugmaker plans to release more details in early June.
The Kalamazoo site is Pfizer’s largest manufacturing facility. The plant sits on 1,300 acres and produces more than 150 products, including active pharmaceutical ingredients, drug products and medical devices. The company ships products made there to 113 countries around the world.
Pfizer previously expanded the site back in 2017 with a $150 million investment. At the time, the site leader said the company has invested around $1 billion in the Kalamazoo plant in the past decade and forecasted $800 million more over the next decade.
Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer highlighted the site as a key part of its vaccine manufacturing supply chain.
More recently, the U.S. purchased 20 million courses of Pfizer's oral antiviral Paxlovid and is working with the company to increase supply of the pills. More than 660,000 courses of the blockbuster five-day treatment have been administered in the U.S. so far.
Pfizer forecasts $98 billion to $102 billion in sales for 2022, with Paxlovid to garner $22 billion of that.