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news.Biopharmaceutical firm Amgen has broken ground on its next-generation biomanufacturing facility in Rhode Island, US.
Image: Amgen has broken ground on its next-generation biomanufacturing facility in Rhode Island. Photo: courtesy of Amgen Inc.
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The company expects to invest up to $200m in the approximately 120,000ft² biomanufacturing plant at its West Greenwich campus in Rhode Island.
Amgen will use its next-generation biomanufacturing capabilities at the facility to produce products for the US and global markets.
Amgen chairman and CEO Robert Bradway said: “Biologics manufacturing is a complex science and has long been a competitive advantage for Amgen.
“We are working to extend that advantage even further with a next-generation biomanufacturing plant in Rhode Island that will produce medicines to serve patients around the world suffering from serious illnesses.”
The plant, which is expected to create around 150 additional highly-skilled manufacturing positions, integrates multiple advanced technologies into a single facility, enabling to build in half the construction time with around one half of the operating cost of a traditional plant.
The next-generation biomanufacturing plants need lesser manufacturing footprint and offer environmental benefits such as reduced consumption of water and energy and lower levels of carbon emissions.
In September 2005, the existing Amgen Rhode Island facility was licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The plant, which produces commercial and clinical bulk drug substance, includes one of the world’s largest mammalian protein manufacturing facilities.
The company has invested over $1.5bn in its Rhode Island campus to add more than 500,000ft² of manufacturing, utility, administrative and laboratory space to the campus.
Amgen is currently employing around 625 full-time staff member at the Amgen Rhode Island campus.
Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo said: “We are thrilled that Amgen has selected Rhode Island as the location for this plant that will be the first-of-its-kind in the United States.
“This is more proof that Rhode Island is now successfully competing for economic development opportunities with global companies thanks to our highly skilled workforce, robust academic institutions and exceptional quality of life.”
