 "Image courtesy: Fresenius Kabi")
German healthcare company Fresenius Kabi will invest nearly $250 million for expanding its Melrose Park, Illinois (USA) site to significantly increase capacity for the production of injectable generic pharmaceuticals. The multi-stage expansion at the facility, just outside of Chicago, will include construction of a number of new buildings. The expansion project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
“The copmany will invest approximately $ 250 million over 10 years to expand the company’s Melrose Park site which manufactures generic, sterile injectable pharmaceuticals used in hospitals and clinics throughout the US. The expansion of the current Melrose Park site into a manufacturing campus is a multi-stage, multi-year project with ground breaking planned for 2017 and final project completion in 2026,” said Fresenius Kabi in a statement.
Fresenius Kabi is a global health care company that specialises in life-saving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company’s US headquarters is based in Lake Zurich, Illinois, which employs more than 1,500 people.
“We are creating a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing campus that will be a showcase for our company and the production of injectable generic medicines,” said Steven Nowicki, senior vice president of global operations for North America, pharmaceuticals division at Fresenius Kabi.
Post-expansion, Melrose Park location will become one of the largest production facilities of Fresenius Kabi, which operates more than 70 manufacturing sites across the globe.
The plant today produces a broad range of generic injectable medicines used to treat critically and chronically ill patients. The expansion will create multiple new buildings connected to the existing manufacturing site and will feature fully automated aseptic filling lines using latest isolator technology, expanded lyophilisation (freeze-drying) capabilities, formulation areas, a dedicated warehouse for raw materials and components and an administration building with conference center, laboratories, office space and cafeteria.
Nowicki added, “Our goal is to expand our US manufacturing capabilities while ensuring continued compliance with increasing regulatory and quality requirements and improve production capacity and efficiency.”
In addition to its Melrose Park locations, Fresenius Kabi has multiple locations in Illinois including Bensenville, Skokie and Lake Zurich. The company also has manufacturing sites in New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and employs more than 2,500 people in the US.
