MilliporeSigma (Burlington, Mass.) announced a $65 million expansion of its high-potent active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its facility near Madison, Wisconsin. This investment will allow large-scale manufacturing of increasingly potent compounds that have the potential to treat cancer. Completion is expected by mid-2022 and should add approximately 50 full-time jobs starting in 2021.
MilliporeSigma’s new 70,000-square-foot commercial building in Madison, Wisconsin, will be one of the largest dedicated HPAPI manufacturing facilities specifically designed to handle single-digit nanogram occupational exposure limit materials. The project is in addition to the company’s campus in St. Louis, Missouri, which was the first commercial ADC facility in North America, and which specializes in ADC bio-conjugation, active pharmaceutical ingredients, excipient and adjuvants manufacturing.
ADCs are an emerging class of medicines designed for high-specificity targeting and destruction of cancer cells, while preserving healthy cells. There are now only nine ADCs approved globally. However, the ADC industry is delivering strong growth and is expected to reach $15 billion by 20301.
While ADCs can provide many benefits compared with other therapeutic options, they also present a unique set of challenges. Their development is complex, necessitating stringent containment infrastructure, and their structural exceptionality requires expertise in a number of different technologies for small and large molecules, as well as analytical capabilities. Due to these challenges, more than 70 percent of ADC projects are outsourced to contract development and manufacturing organizations2.