Catalent Invests $200 Million in Wisconsin and Indiana Sites

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The company is set to expand biologics and fill/finish capacity at its biologics manufacturing sites in Madison, WI, and Bloomington, IN.

Catalent announced on Jan. 7, 2019 a $200-million investment in its biologics business to expand drug-substance manufacturing capacity and drug-product fill/finish capacity.

The investments, phased over a three-year program, will be carried out at the company’s biologics manufacturing sites in Madison, WI, and Bloomington, IN. This follows a December 2018 announcement to invest $14 million in packaging capabilities at the Bloomington site.

Mammalian cell-culture capacity will be increased at Madison with the build-out of two new suites, each with a 2 x 2000-liter single-use bioreactor system, providing additional clinical and commercial production capacity at the 2000- or 4000-liter batch scale as well new laboratories.  Work is expected to be completed by mid-2021 and will more than double Catalent’s commercial biomanufacturing capacity, the company reports.

Additionally, fill/finish capacity at the Bloomington site will be expanded by 79,000 ft2, with both GMP and non-GMP capabilities. A high-speed flexible vial line, using both ready-to-use components and bulk filling at a filling speed of 300 units per minute, will be installed along with a high-speed flexible syringe/cartridge line with a filling speed of over 300 units per minute, and a fully automated vial inspection machine.

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Opened in April 2013, Catalent Biologics’ Madison facility specializes in development, manufacturing, and analytical services for new biological entities and biosimilars. The facility houses the company’s proprietary GPEx cell-line development technology, used to create high-yielding mammalian cell lines. The Madison facility was designed for cGMP production from 10- to 4000-liter scale.

The company’s 875,000- ftbiologics development and manufacturing facility in Bloomington has 900 employees with expertise in sterile formulation and extensive biomanufacturing and drug product fill/finish capacity across liquid and lyophilized vials, prefilled syringes, and cartridges.

Source: Catalent