A Northern Irish contract manufacturer is making some big moves in the Keystone State.
The Almac Group, a global contracting and manufacturing company for APIs and pharmaceuticals is expanding its North American headquarters in the town of Souderton, PA, northwest of Philadelphia.
The company is looking to invest $65 million into the facility with the plan being to increase the clinical capacity at the facility by 60%. Almac is also looking to add additional cold and ultra-low storage as well as just-in-time processing capabilities which Almac predicts will be to support the industry trend toward biologics and advanced therapeutic medicinal products (ATMPs).
The Souderton expansion is expected to break ground sometime in early 2023, and once complete it will bring the company’s North American headquarters to a total of 340,000 square feet.
“Drug development and clinical trials continue to evolve across the world, with sponsors expanding their pipelines to focus on biologics, vaccines and advanced therapy medicinal products. Almac is at the forefront of building supply chain expertise and capacity for this evolution,” said Robert Dunlop, president of Almac Clinical Services said in a
statement
.
However, this is not the only investment that Almac is looking to make. The company is
also upgrading
its two other Montgomery County sites bringing the company’s total investment in Pennsylvania to $93.5 million. The company is also looking to add 355 jobs to the state over the next three years.
However, to tackle this expansion the company has received monetary help from the state. The company received a funding proposal from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development of $1.8 million as well as a Pennsylvania First grant and a $250,000 workforce development grant. The company has also been encouraged to apply for a manufacturing tax credit and a research and development tax credit program.
This is not the first major investment the company has made in Pennsylvania.
In 2016
, the company committed to leasing out 26,000 square feet of office space in Lansdale, PA, and investing around $24.4 million in an expansion project that saw the company add more machine lines and cold storage as well as create 312 jobs.
While the Keystone state is certainly on the company’s mind, it has not neglected its home in Northern Ireland, where
last year
it announced that it was expanding its Armagh location by 42,000 square feet.
