Thomas Loewald, CEO, Cambrex, announced an expansion of more than $100 million across its global manufacturing network for small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) at the DCAT Member Company Announcement Forum held March 21, 2022 at DCAT Week 2022.

The largest of the expansions in Charles City, Iowa, is a $50-million project to support the large-scale development and manufacturing of small-molecule drug substances. The expansion will increase the facility’s capacity by approximately 30% with reactors sized up to 16,000 liters. The new capacity will come on line during the first half of 2022.

Cambrex is further investing $30 million in its High Point, North Carolina, facility, which provides   clinical-stage drug-substance and small-volume commercial manufacturing. Now in progress, the expansion will approximately double the facility’s capacity by adding new chemistry laboratories, new clinical manufacturing suites, and a small-scale commercial manufacturing operation with reactors up to 2,000 liters. In addition to expanding capabilities in continuous flow chemistry, the investment will give Cambrex the ability to develop and manufacture highly potent APIs within a single facility. The High Point facility expansion will be completed during the first half of 2023.

In Europe, Cambrex is midway through a series of upgrades at its Karlskoga, Sweden, facility totaling over $20 million, which will increase multi-purpose capacity by 25% and provide more flexibility in API manufacturing. Less than a year removed from installing a new 6,000-liter drug-substance production line, the site is now executing a similar project to add additional cGMP manufacturing capacity by the end of 2022.