Vetter, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that specializes in aseptic filling, has announced that a number of activities undertaken at its Skokie facility to satisfy existing and ever-increasing future customer demands have been completed. The initiatives include an additional staff shift for daily clinical manufacturing operations, as well as the doubling of capacities for performing visual inspection and In-Process Control (IPC). The facility also expanded its on-site offerings by giving customers the option to obtain secondary packaging services for small batches of frozen drug products such as vial labeling, cartoning, and carton labeling. Furthermore, the long-term collaboration with Sentry BioPharma Services, a provider of cGMP clinical packaging solutions and supply chain management, supports a streamlined path from filling to clinic.

“We are extremely pleased with our past years performance at the Skokie facility, as well as our overall success to date,” said Peter Soelkner, managing director, Vetter.

The site, located at the Illinois Science + Technology Park in suburban Chicago has passed audits and qualifications by as many as 30 companies, including 9 of the top 20 leading (bio-)pharmaceutical companies. This performance has resulted in a wide-ranging customer base that includes not only those in the U.S., but also European companies based for example in the UK and Denmark, as well as Asian headquartered companies such as in South Korea.

“Many of our customers have already returned for development work for a second, third, or even fourth molecule,” said Susanne Resatz, president, Vetter Development Services USA, Inc., who is responsible for heading up the operation. “Furthermore, our outlook for future performance is very positive as demonstrated by a pipeline filled with high quality customer projects for biologics.”

Drugs under development by Vetter’s customers include treatments for blood cancer, muscular dystrophy, wound healing, and dwarfism.