Sector News

Gilead set to open California production campus for up to 500 workers

August 16, 2017
Life sciences

After three years of work, Gilead is set to move into a $500 million manufacturing campus in California which eventually could have 500 employees.

The 320,000-square-foot facility in La Verne, California, will initially be used to manufacture its antifungal treatment AmBisome and package about 20 meds including some of its hepatitis C cures and some of its HIV meds. It is approved for an 80,000-square-foot expansion if needed.

“Up to 14 million tablets will be packaged and up to 5 million AmBisome vials will be manufactured per year,” company spokeswoman Michele Rest said in an email. “Employee numbers in La Verne will increase as we build to full commercial operation.”

Gilead picked up the property in 2014 to build a facility that could replace a plant three miles away in San Dimas where AmBisome is currently made but which has had some regulatory issues in the past.

AmBisome delivered $356 million in 2016 sales, up 2% for the year but down 10% from 2014. It fell off patent last year, and the company has said it expects generic competition in Europe soon.

The new plant comes on during a challenging time for the Foster City, California-based company, which delivered disappointing guidance for 2017 earlier this year but more recently reported a surprisingly good second quarter. The company has been on the lookout for transformative M&A deals, and its name comes up as a potential buyer of any number of targets, but so far CEO John Milligan, Ph.D., has not found a deal that he believes works for the biotech.

Its fiscal challenges have not deterred the drugmaker from taking on new manufacturing projects, which must be executed well in advance of future production needs. One effort is in China, where it is preparing to produce and launch its hep C and hep B drugs.

While Gilead has declined to offer any details about that endeavor, it let the secret out earlier this year on Twitter. A tweet to recruit workers included a link to this site which mentioned plans to build a new manufacturing site in the Hangzhou Economic Development Area.

By Eric Palmer

Source: Fierce Pharma

comments closed

Related News

March 24, 2024

Johnson Matthey to sell its Medical Devices business for $700 million

Life sciences

Johnson Matthey Plc (JM; London) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell 100% of its Medical Device Components business (MDC) to Montagu Private Equity (Montagu) for cash consideration of US$700 million (£550 million) on a cash free debt free basis.

March 24, 2024

Lonza acquires biologics manufacturing plant in California from Roche

Life sciences

Lonza AG (Basel, Switzerland) announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the Genentech large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville, Calif. from Roche (Basel, Switzerland) for $1.2 billion. The acquisition will significantly increase Lonza’s large-scale biologics manufacturing capacity.

March 24, 2024

Roquette to acquire IFF Pharma Solutions to boost global excipient presence

Life sciences

Roquette plans to acquire International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) Pharma Solutions for an enterprise value of up to €2.85 billion (US$3.09 billion). With the acquisition set to close in the first half of 2025, the plant-based ingredient and pharmaceutical excipients supplier aims to reinforce its position in the pharmaceutical industry.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach