Evonik expands North American contract development and manufacturing capabilities for advanced injectables

• Installation of automated vial filling line for advanced injectables, and construction of new RESOMER® production building at Evonik Birmingham Laboratories in Alabama, USA
• Evonik Vancouver Laboratories in Canada to double in size to meet growing demand for its liposomal formulation development and manufacturing services

Evonik today announced a €35 million expansion of its contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) capabilities in North America to meet growing demand for controlled release injectable formulations. The expansion of the U.S. and Canadian facilities, which includes the installation of a new filling line, production facilities and analytical labs, will create more than 50 jobs.

“Evonik is a global strategic partner to pharmaceutical companies seeking enabling solutions for polymer and liposome-based dosage forms,” said Don Enns, Global Head of Drug Delivery for the Evonik Health Care Business Line. “By increasing the production capacity of our RESOMER® functional excipients and expanding our contract development and production services, we can further help customers transform their APIs into high-performance parenteral medicines.”

Expansion of Evonik Birmingham Laboratories
Evonik Birmingham Laboratories (BHM) in the U.S. State of Alabama is a global centre of excellence for biomaterials and polymer-based injectable dosage forms.

To further expand its range of parenteral drug development and manufacturing services, Evonik has installed an automated, custom-designed filling line for complex injectable products. Supplied by Bausch + Stroebel and scheduled to be fully operational later this year, the modular VarioSys® line will support the liquid, lyophilized or powder-filling of drugs in vial sizes of up to 50mL to be used in clinical or commercial applications.

Evonik is also constructing a new 930 square metre building at its BHM site that will significantly expand the global production capacity of its RESOMER® portfolio of bioresorbable polymers. The new building, which is scheduled to be commissioned later this year, will strengthen Evonik’s technological and supply leadership for bioresorbable polymers and provide customers with additional dual-source supply options.

Expansion of Evonik Vancouver Laboratories
In 2016, Evonik acquired Transferra Nanosciences Inc., a CDMO specialising in the development of lipid nanoparticle-based parenteral drugs. It is now named Evonik Vancouver Laboratories.

To help meet growing demand for its advanced CDMO services, Evonik is upgrading the existing facility and adding a second adjacent building that will more than double the total size of its Vancouver site to 4,300 square meters. The investments, which include the upgrade of GMP manufacturing facilities and the expansion of laboratories and scale-up services, will support new and existing customer programs.