Shire’s $1 billion plasma fractionation plant in Georgia has gone through three owners already since it was envisioned and will soon have a fourth. But after six years, it is now officially open.
The company held a kickoff ceremony at the plant in Covington on Thursday, according to The Covington News. In an email, the company confirmed that the plant currently has about 900 employees and is expected to have about 1,500 when it is fully operational.
The 1 million-square-foot facility was announced in 2012 when Baxalta was still the drug unit of Baxter International. Baxter spun the drug unit off into Baxalta in 2014, and Shire bought Baxalta in a $32 billion deal in 2016 in a move to broaden its offerings. The plant is soon expected to have a fourth owner after Japan’s Takeda in May made a $62 billion deal to buy Dublin-based Shire.
Through all of that, patients have been “the ultimate inspiration for everything,” Carlos Soto, Shire’s vice president of manufacturing operations, said at the opening, the newspaper reported.
The company will make immunoglobulin products there to help patients with primary immune deficiency disorders. The company last year said it has filed its first submission to the FDA for the plant, seeking the transfer of production of Gammagard Liquid, a replacement therapy for primary humoral immunodeficiency. Shire in June won FDA approval for the product.
Shire expects to make a second submission to the FDA this year for development of its albumin therapy at the Covington facility. Shire’s albumin therapy is primarily used as plasma-volume replacement therapy in immune disorders, trauma and other critical conditions, the company said.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
Airnov provides critical healthcare industries with high-quality, controlled atmosphere packaging, to protect their products from moisture and oxygen. The business has manufacturing facilities in the USA, France, China and India and employs around 700 people.
Takeda of Japan has partnered with Hong Kong-based Hutchmed, gaining the commercial rights to colorectal cancer drug fruquintinib outside of China for $400 million up front, plus $730 million in potential milestone payments. Takeda also will help develop fruquintinib, which can be applied to subtypes of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, regardless of biomarker status, the companies said.
On April 3, Scangos, who’s been chief executive officer at Vir since the start of 2017, will hand over the reins to Marianne De Backer, Ph.D. De Backer comes over from Bayer, where she currently heads up pharmaceutical strategy, business development and licensing. Alongside her CEO appointment, De Backer is set to join Vir’s board of directors, the company said Wednesday.
