With global expansion plans underway, New Jersey contract manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific has signed some big checks in recent years to support its ambitious aims. Now, the company is set to build a new sterile filling facility in Asia that will help boost its regional presence.
Thermo Fisher Scientific will dole out $130 million for a new Singapore facility to house two sterile filling lines that will eventually churn out up to 30 million doses per month of drugs and vaccines, the CDMO said.
The new plant will employ up to 300 workers and is set to go online in 2022, Thermo said.
The Singapore facility will hold one large-scale line dedicated to live-virus filling—the first of its kind in the country—and a second focused on general fill-finish work. The plant will also house cleanroom capacity, labs, warehousing and offices to support production.
The project received backing from the Singapore Economic Development Board as part of an effort to support the regional distribution of sterile medicines.
Thermo, one of the largest players in the pharmaceutical contract manufacturing space, has wheeled and dealed in recent years to expand its global footprint.
In May, the firm inked a long-term tie-up at CSL Behring’s Lengnau, Switzerland, facility to boost its biologics manufacturing capacity.
As part of the agreement, Thermo will take on operations of CSL’s “state-of-the-art” biologics facility once it comes online in mid-2021. In return, the company will streamline discovery and manufacturing for CSL’s drug portfolio, including hemophilia B therapy Idelvion.
The Singapore down payment is one of its biggest transactions of 2020, and it followed a busy year for Thermo’s global expansion plans.
In November, the company said it would invest nearly $24 million in its biologics site at Inchinnan, Scotland, to boost its ability to manufacture cell culture media. Thermo will complete the work in 2021, it said. The month before, Thermo said its 2019 capital expenditures would reach $270 million with investments in its fill-finish operations; distribution in Asia, South America and India; and a virtual reality training center in Greenville, North Carolina.