Regeneron Pumps $80m into NY Plant to Support Demand and Pipeline
The firm has already completed a $7.5m office expansion at the site in East Greenbush, New York, and now it has begun construction of a 65,000 sq ft commercial-scale manufacturing suite, at an estimated cost of $72m.
“We are expanding to accommodate growth in our pipeline and commercial demand for our products,” Daniel Van Plew - Senior VP and General Manager, Industrial Operations and Product Supply at Regeneron – told in-Pharmatechnologist.com.
He added completion of the facilities is expected in the second half of 2014 and the extended site will employ an additional 170 employees, pushing the workforce up to 840.
Furthermore, the expansion will see the addition of two extra 10,000-litre bioreactors on top of the four currently operational at the site.
Eylea Sales Slow But Growth Expected
The facility manufactures all of Regeneron’s commercial and clinical-supply products, Van Plew told us, including the interleukin 1 inhibitor orphan drug Arcalyst and metastatic colorectal cancer drug Zaltrap, being co-developed with Sanofi.
The facility also produces Eylea – a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration – which commenced sales in November 2011 following approval in the US, and European sales commencing late 2012. According to Regeneron’s end of year report, sales in the US for 2012 stood at $838m.
Though sales of the drug in the second quarter this year slowed down, the firm – along with Bayer who co-markets the drug outside the US - announced last week Eylea has been approved by the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for the treatment of visual impairment due to Macular Edema following Central Retinal Vein Occlusion (CRVO).
However, regarding the expansion in operations, Van Plew told us Regeneron “would not attribute this growth to any one product or to any particular regulatory approval.
"It is a result of our success in target research, discovery and validation, and of our operational excellence in scaling production to meet market and clinical demand.”
