Fresenius Kabi expands manufacturing
Fresenius Kabi in Lake Zurich announced Wednesday it will invest about $250 million over 10 years to expand the company's Melrose Park site which manufactures generic, sterile injectable pharmaceuticals used in hospitals and clinics throughout the United States. The expansion of the current Melrose Park site into a manufacturing campus is a multistage, multiyear project with ground breaking planned for 2017 and final project completion in 2026.
The company plans to spend $250 million to expand the site for the continued manufacturing of generic injectable medicines. Fresenius Kabi is a global health care company that specializes in lifesaving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company's U.S. headquarters is based in Lake Zurich. In total, the company employs more than 1,500 people in Illinois.
In addition to its Melrose Park locations, Fresenius Kabi has locations in Bensenville, Skokie and Lake Zurich. The company also has manufacturing sites in New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and employs more than 2,500 people in the United States.
"We are creating a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing campus that will be a showcase for our company and the production of injectable generic medicines," said Steven R. Nowicki, senior vice president of Global Operations for North America, Pharmaceuticals Division at Fresenius Kabi. Fresenius Kabi operates more than 70 manufacturing sites across the globe and the Melrose Park location will be one of its largest.
The plant produces a broad range of generic injectable medicines used to treat critically and chronically ill patients. The expansion will create multiple new buildings connected to the existing manufacturing site and will feature fully automated aseptic filling lines using state-of-the-art isolator technology, expanded lyophilization (freeze-drying) capabilities, formulation areas, a dedicated warehouse for raw materials and components and an administration building with conference center, laboratories, office space and cafeteria.