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Thermo Fisher Scientific Expands Global Pharmaceutical Production Capacity

Published 1/4/2021

Thermo Fisher Scientific is expanding its global production capacity for vaccines, medicines, and biologic therapies. Construction will begin in mid-2021 on a 130,000-sf facility in Greenville, N.C. Slated for completion in 2022, the standalone structure will accommodate two live-virus filling lines. The project is part of a $500 million investment in the site that will add six new lines in existing buildings to support commercial-scale liquid vial filling and the creation of lyophilized materials. 

In Carlsbad, Calif., Thermo Fisher is building a 67,000-sf cGMP facility for the manufacture of plasmid DNA. Leveraging advanced digital technologies and single-use bioreactors, the expansion will increase the supply of a critical raw material used in mRNA vaccines and personalized cancer therapies. Occupancy is expected in mid-2021. 

In Germany, the company opened an 86,000-sf packaging and distribution center in Rheinfelden in December of 2020, with a 9,600-sf cryogenic storage hub opening in Weil am Rein in January of 2021. New commercial production and development lines will be installed at the Swindon campus in the United Kingdom and at the Ferentino and Monza sites in Italy. In Singapore, a $130 million facility will provide two sterile filling lines when it opens in mid-2022. Lastly, an integrated biologics and sterile drug development plant is under construction in Hangzhou, China. Created in collaboration with joint venture partner Innoforce, the state-of-the-art GMP facility will open in 2022. 

Thermo Fisher Scientific is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.