Pfizer is investing $465 million to expand its U.S. manufacturing with technically advanced sterile injectable pharmaceutical production facilities in Portage, MI, which will create approximately 450 new jobs over the next several years.  

Known as Modular Aseptic Processing (MAP), the new 400,000-sq.-ft. production facility expands Pfizer’s presence in Portage, located in Kalamazoo County, where the company now employs more than 2,200 people at one of its largest plants.

MAP will incorporate technically advanced aseptic manufacturing equipment, systems and design, including multiple, self-contained modular manufacturing lines. This allows the manufacturing line in each module to be entirely separate from all other manufacturing lines. Groundbreaking is planned for spring 2019, with construction expected to be completed in 2021. After the facility is validated by regulatory agencies, production should begin in 2024.

“This investment is part of our overall plan announced in January to invest approximately $5 billion in U.S.-based capital projects as a result of the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. During the next six years, we expect to invest approximately $1.1 billion in Kalamazoo County – which is in addition to the $1 billion we have invested in the site over the past decade,” said Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer. “Every day, we strive to enhance our ability to bring medicines to the patients who need them, and the new facility we are building in Michigan will help us continue to deliver therapies that significantly improve people’s lives.”

“This investment will strengthen Pfizer’s leadership in sterile manufacturing technology and help meet growing patient demand,” said Kirsten Lund-Jurgensen, Ph.D., executive vice president and president, Pfizer Global Supply. “It also will create hundreds of highly skilled jobs, fortifying Michigan’s high-tech manufacturing environment.”

Pfizer’sPortage site is a primary global supplier of sterile injectable, liquids and semi-solid medicines, and active pharmaceutical ingredients, producing more than 150 products. Its biggest product is Solu-Medrol, a widely used injectable anti-inflammatory medicine. The plant has been in operation since 1948.