Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) has completed an expansion of its biomanufacturing facility in Fremont, California. With a two-year investment totaling EUR 200 million ($228 million), BI increasing its worldwide bioreactor capacity to 290,000 liters.

The biomanufacturing capacity is for internal use by the company for its development and product portfolio as well as for external manufacturing in the company’s role as a contract manufacturer. 

The Fremont facility focuses on manufacturing medicines for immunology, rheumatology, and oncology and is part of the company’s biomanufacturing network, which also includes sites in Biberach, Germany and Vienna, Austria.

“The completion of our expansion in Fremont marks another milestone in our biopharmaceutical growth strategy,” says Dr. Uwe Bücheler, Head of BI’s Biopharmaceuticals Business Unit in an October 31, 2018 company statement. “Our locations in the United States, Germany, Austria, and China are contributing to the development of innovative biopharmaceuticals for patients worldwide.”

BI has made several other recent investments in its biomanufacturing operations. In July 2018, BI completed a new filling line at its commercial manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China for its contract manufacturing business, BioXcellence. The isolator-based fill/finish line is for GMP operations for aseptic filling of liquids in vials. BI’s BioXcellence provides contract development and manufacturing services for biopharmaceuticals for drug substances, drug products, and corresponding quality control and assurance activities through facilities in Biberach, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Fremont, California; and Shanghai.

In May 2017, the company inaugurated a commercial production site for biopharmaceuticals in Zhang Jiang Hi-tech Park in Shanghai, China. The site, with a first-phase investment of more than EUR 70 million ($78 million), uses mammalian cell-culture technology to support the company’s contract manufacturing business. The facility provides clinical and commercial supply on a 2000-L single-use bioreactor scale and is designed to flexibly add additional 2000-L single-use bioreactors and fill/finish capabilities. The company has been providing GMP clinical material supply at 100-L and 500-L scale in Shanghai since 2014.

In June 2018, the company announced plans to invest EUR 230 million ($267 million) in a new biologicals development center at the company’s research and development site in Biberach, Germany. The building is expected to have a staggered launch beginning in 2020.

In late 2015, the company announced an investment of EUR 500 million ($537 million) in biopharmaceutical production at its site in Vienna, Austria, through the addition of a new large-scale biopharmaceutical production facility for active ingredients manufactured using cell cultures. The biopharmaceutical production plant is scheduled to go into operation by 2021.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim