Pfizer will invest $21m in US injectables upgrade
pharmafile | May 25, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | APIs, Pfizer, pharma manufacturing
Pfizer has announced another upgrade of its sterile injectables plant in Portage, Michigan, earmarking around $21 million for new air handling, sterilisation and utility systems.
The money is being spent on Building 41 of the Portage facility, which in total employs around 2,950 manufacturing staff and manufactures sterile injectables, liquids, semisolids and the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in various medicines.
Portage is also a key manufacturing location for Pfizer CentreSource, which supplies fine chemicals and ingredients to the Pfizer group and also carries out sterile, high-potency and custom contract manufacturing for third-party companies.
Among the products made at the facility are Pfizer’s antibiotic Zyvox (linezolid), anticancer drug Camptosar (irinotecan), injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate) and corticosteroid Solu-Medrol (methylprednisolone sodium succinate).
Building 41 covers around 6,000 sq.ft. and provides fill-and-finish, packaging and inspection services for many of the products made at the Portage site.
Pfizer has been investing steadily in Portage at a time when it is closing down facilities elsewhere, and last year completed a $107 million project which, among other things, boosted production capacity and improved energy efficiency. That project is still being validated
A spokesman for the company told Michigan Business Review that the latest round of investment will be spent on new air handlers, heating and air conditioning systems and vial sterilisation equipment.
Building 41 will be closed for an eight-week period during the summer while the new equipment is installed, although Pfizer has stepped up production to cater for the downtime. Staff members who have no work projects during the off period will be assigned to various community projects.
Phil Taylor
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