Dive Brief:
- AbbVie on Wednesday said it will invest $1.4 billion to build a large manufacturing campus in Durham, North Carolina, to support production of its immunology, neuroscience and oncology medicines.
- The drugmaker plans to hire 734 people at the 185-acre site over the next four years, including engineers, scientists, production workers and laboratory technicians, according to a news release. It also plans to implement artificial intelligence to support production.
- Construction of the facility will begin this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2028, AbbVie said. This is the company’s first major investment in North Carolina and its largest investment in a single location to date.
Dive Insight:
The AbbVie Durham campus, which will be located near Research Triangle Park, is part of the drugmaker’s broader $100 billion commitment to U.S. research and development, as well as manufacturing, over the next decade.
The first phase of construction will include small-volume parenteral drug manufacturing facilities, laboratories, a warehouse, administrative offices and employee wellness centers, according to a news release. SVPs are sterile, injectable pharmaceutical products such as vials, prefilled cartridges and prefilled syringes containing medicines for injections or infusions. They are typically less than 100 milliliters by volume.
Once construction is complete, AbbVie said the Durham campus will be its U.S. center of excellence for SVP manufacturing with the ability to deliver medicines to patients worldwide. AbbVie chose the site for its ability to support future expansion and its proximity to the area’s strong local workforce…