Amgen opens its most advanced manufacturing facility to date
Posted: 27 February 2024 | Catherine Eckford (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
The biomanufacturing facility has been designed to help Amgen meet its target of carbon neutrality in all its operations by 2027, according to the company.
Credit: Marlon Trottmann / Shutterstock.com
Amgen has opened a new biomanufacturing plant in Central Ohio, US. It is the company’s most advanced manufacturing facility to date.
The new facility, known as Amgen Ohio, “was designed with the latest innovation and technology to deliver safe, reliable medicines for ‘every patient, every time,'” stated Robert Bradway, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Amgen. “As part of Amgen’s global biomanufacturing network, Amgen Ohio will play an important role in helping us address serious disease around the world with our innovative biomedicines.”
Amgen Ohio is nearly 300,000 ft2 in size and will employ 400 full-time staff. The facility has been designed to meet the highest environmental sustainability standards, to help Amgen’s reach its target of carbon neutrality in all operations by 2027, the company noted.
A state-of-the-art facility
[Amgen Ohio] was brought from groundbreaking to licensure in just under 26 months, making it the most rapid site development in our company’s 45 year history”
In a video shared on its page on X (formerly Twitter), Bradway highlighted that the plant was brought “from groundbreaking to licensure in just under 26 months, making it the most rapid site development in our company’s 45 year history.”
Additionally, in partnership with Columbus State Community College, Amgen declared that it hosting an 18-month manufacturing apprenticeship at the new facility.
Amgen drug development highlights – November 2023
In November 2023, Phase II trial results for immunotherapy tarlatamab demonstrated an ability to provide sustained anti-tumour activity in 40 percent of the small cell lung cancer trial patients.
In conclusion, the findings indicate that antibodies that bind T cells to cancer cells are a potential treatment for a common solid tumour.
Novel biosimilar approval
In the same month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Amgen’s Wezlana (ustekinumab-auub) as the first biosimilar to reference blockbuster drug Stelara (ustekinumab).
At the time of the announcement, the pharmaceutical company shared that the first Stelara biosimilars are expected to enter the US market in 2025.
Related topics
Big Pharma, Biopharmaceuticals, Drug Development, Drug Manufacturing, Drug Markets, Drug Supply Chain, Industry Insight, Manufacturing, Therapeutics
