Farmabios, a company of the Axplora group founded in 2022, has received the cGMP approval from AIFA (national public body regulating medicines for human use in Italy) for the first line of its new production unit at Gropello Cairoli, Italy, expanding its large scale manufacturing capabilities for high potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs) and steroids.
Bayer has opened a new cell therapy production plant in Berkeley, California, USA, for the production of of BlueRock Therapeutics’ bemdaneprocel (BRT-DA01), an investigational cell therapy currently in evaluation for treating Parkinson’s disease. BlueRock Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company and a wholly owned, independently managed subsidiary of Bayer.
Malaysia’s leading integrated chemicals producer Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), part of Petronas group, has reached the final investment decision (FID) to construct an advanced chemical recycling plant with a capacity of 33 kt/a. The plant, to be built in Pengerang, Johor, is the largest of its kind in Asia, said Petronas, and is expected to be operational in the first half of 2026.
Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza is extending a long-term collaboration with an unnamed major global biopharmaceutical partner. Under the agreement, the current dedicated bioconjugation capacity will be increased fourfold by adding two new bioconjugation suites for the commercial supply of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) at Lonza's site in Visp, Switzerland.
DuPont officially opened its new adhesives production facility in Zhangjiagang (ZJG), eastern China, on Wednesday. The new facility will produce adhesives to serve customers in the transportation industry, primarily in lightweighting and fast-growing vehicle electrification applications, the company said.
Arkema plans a two-and-a-half-fold increase of its organic peroxide production capacities at the Changshu site in China. This investment of around €50 million, the company said, will enable it to support its Asian customers in fast-growing markets, particularly in renewable energies.
Wacker Chemie started the construction of several new production lines to expand its specialty silicone manufacturing capacities at the Zhangjiagang site in Jiangsu Province, China. At the site, which is one of Wacker’s largest fully integrated production sites, the globally operating chemical group will produce functional silicone fluids, silicone emulsions and silicone elastomer gels. Investments of some €150 million are planned for the expansion project, Wacker said.
Portugal's oil company Galp has taken the final investment decision on two large scale projects to reduce the carbon footprint of the Sines refinery and of its products.
Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma plans to build an aseptic drug products facility in County Kerry, Ireland, creating an estimated 350 engineering, science, technology and other jobs. Construction is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2028. Astellas expects the investment costs to amount to €330 million.
Dow has started operations of its new MDI distillation and prepolymers facility at its US manufacturing site in Freeport, Texas.
US multinational energy company ExxonMobil has started up two new chemical production units at its Baytown, Texas, manufacturing facility. The $2 billion expansion is part of the company’s long-term growth plans for its US Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities.
In Ireland, US drugmaker MSD has opened its new facility in Dunboyne, County Meath, and has expanded its Carlow site. MSD says it has invested more than €1 billion at both sites, creating 670 new jobs and increasing the number of employees in Ireland to 3,100. 100 of the newly created positions remain to be filled.
PPG has completed an expansion of its powder coatings plant in Sumaré, Brazil. The $2.7 million project increased the production capacity of the facility by 40%. The unit is expected to reach full capacity this month.
Sanner, a German contract manufacturing and development organization (CDMO), is expanding its production capacity in the Asia-Pacific region with the opening of a second manufacturing facility in Kunshan, China.
With the inauguration of a new research building in the Shanghai Technology Park, Solvay has completed the expansion of its China Research & Innovation Center (R&I). The company said that it has invested more than 4 billion RMB (approximately €500 million) in its Chinese R&I hub since 2005.
CDMO CordenPharma, a specialist in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, drug products and packaging services, inaugurated an increased commercial peptide production capacity with newly-upgraded facilities at its Colorado site in the US, which the company says is the world's largest solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) manufacturing facility.
Austrian fibers producer Lenzing has completed technical improvements to its Purwakarta site in Indonesia. According to Lenzing, it has invested more than €100 million since 2021 to convert the location into a supplier of specialty viscose fibers.
Bayer’ Crop Science division plans to invest €220 million in a new research and development (R&D) facility at its Monheim, Germany site. This is the company’s largest single investment in its crop protection business in Germany since the founding of the Monheim campus in 1979, Bayer said.
Covestro has completed construction on a new production facility for polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) in Shanghai, China.
Polish chemical company Grupa Azoty wants to build a new concentrated ammonium nitrate solution plant at its site in Tarnów, Poland. The company announced that it has signed a contract with Thyssenkrupp Uhde for the preparation of licensing documentation and the supply of all process equipment for the plant.
Finnish contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Biovian, specializing in biopharmaceuticals, is investing more than €50 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Turku, Finland.
Braskem has completed the expansion of production capacity for its biobased ethylene plant in the petrochemical complex of Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Upperton Pharma Solutions, a UK contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has completed construction of its new development and GMP manufacturing headquarters in Nottingham, UK. The company said it has invested £15 million in the new 50,000-square-foot facility.
After building up manufacturing footholds outside the US, including in Australia, Kenya, South Korea, Canada and the UK, vaccine specialist Moderna is planning to build a new plant closer to its home base in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
WuXi STA has added two reactors at its Changzhou campus in China, enhancing capacity and capability at its TIDES contract research, development and manufacturing platform for oligonucleotide, peptide and related synthetic conjugates. The reactors have capacity of 2,000 liters each, taking total volume for solid-phase peptide synthesizers to more than 10,000 liters.
Germany’s Merck plans to invest some €300 million in an integrated specialty gas plant in Hometown, Pennsylvania, to support the development of its semiconductor business.
Genentech, the US biotech arm of Swiss pharma giant Roche, is building a new small-batch biologics manufacturing facility at its Oceanside campus in California, USA. Groundbreaking took place on Feb. 10.
Arkema has doubled capacity for its Reafree-branded powder polyester resins at its Navi Mumbai facility in India. The French chemical producer said the upgrade reinforces its leadership position in the global powder coatings market and its commitment to developing very low-VOC technologies.
Brenntag has opened a new facility in Zarate, Argentina, unifying its operations in Buenos Aires into a single site and expanding its capabilities to customers. The site comprises offices, warehouses, storage tanks, three tank truck unloading spaces, two drumming stations and a mixing and blending building.
Germany’s BioNTech said it plans to accelerate and broaden the clinical development of its cancer immunotherapy pipeline in the Asia-Pacific region by expanding its clinical footprint to East Asia, specifically Taiwan.
Specialty chemicals producer Clariant said it will invest 80 million Swiss francs to increase output of existing products in the portfolio it manufactures at Daya Bay, Huizhou, China, as well as introducing new products there by the end of 2024.
Pfizer is planning to invest $750 million in its Kalamazoo County, Michigan, production site – one of its biggest – to increase output of injectables and vaccines, including the investigational mRNA flu shot currently in Phase 3 clinical trials.
WuXi STA has started up a new parenteral formulation line at its drug product site in Wuxi City, China. The company’s second line for parenteral drug product clinical and commercial manufacturing to go on stream this year has an annual capacity of 10 million units.
Responding to rising market demand, Japan’s Fujifilm is spending $188 million to establish a manufacturing facility for cell culture media in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. The site – Fujifilm’s fifth worldwide – will be operated by subsidiary Fujifilm Irvine Scientific.
PPG has announced separate projects in Mexico and the US to expand capacity for powder coatings and adhesives and sealants respectively.
