Piramal Pharma Solutions, a unit of Indian CDMO Piramal Pharma, plans to spend $80 million to expand its sterile injectables manufacturing facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
The project is part of the company’s effort to boost the site’s capabilities to meet growing demand for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a type of cancer treatment that combines a monoclonal antibody with a chemotherapy drug to target and destroy cancer cells.
The expansion will add 24,000 square feet of production space, plus a new lab and new equipment, the company said in a Sept. 30 press release (PDF). The site is also getting a new filling line and a pair of lyophilizers.
Piramal's plant expansion is expected to be wrapped up by the first quarter of 2027.
“This expansion represents a strategic investment in the future of Piramal Pharma," Nandini Piramal, the company's chairperson, said in the release. "Filling the commercial manufacturing gap enables the Lexington site to access the rapidly expanding injectables market and establish itself as a key player in the segment."
The injectables market is forecast to surpass $20 billion by 2028, according to Piramal. When the expansion is complete, the site is expected to have capacity to produce more than 240 batches per year, versus 104 currently.
Piramal acquired the facility back in 2015 for $30.6 million from Coldstream Laboratories as the Indian CDMO expanded to include producing drug delivery components like sterile injectable products, lyophilized (freeze-dried) parenterals and ADCs.
The following year, the company invested as much as $10 million into the site and created 40 new jobs. The latest expansion is expected to result in another 40 full-time positions at the facility, the company said.