- New AbbVie Contract Manufacturing service offerings include biologics fill-finish, topical creams and ointments, sterile ophthalmic ointments, and custom API.
- Allergan acquisition and capital investments in AbbVie’s network substantially expands service offering and increases manufacturing capacity.
- Expansion adds AbbVie Contract Manufacturing’s end-to-end capability for CMO clients.
Investment in several key areas has expanded AbbVie’s manufacturing network and expertise to its already extensive manufacturing network.
The acquisition of Allergan and capital expenditure enables AbbVie CMO to provide expanded capabilities to clients on several manufacturing fronts in the U.S. and Europe.
“Our third-party (CMO) business has grown substantially over the last 30 years, helping our partners mitigate risk and deliver high-quality medications to patients in need. We have a great legacy of operational excellence and ongoing global expansion. These recent investments allow us to better serve our pharma and biotech partners, from early clinical to commercial launch and ongoing supply,” said Daniela Ottini, VP, External and Contract Manufacturing at AbbVie. “Working with AbbVie CMO gives our clients an opportunity to engage on one technology or take advantage of integrated drug substance and drug product manufacturing for true end-to-end pharmaceutical support and supply chain assurance.”
New manufacturing capabilities—integrated drug substance and drug product options
AbbVie’s recent expansion comes in the form of both new manufacturing sites and expansion of its current sites. Notable additions to the AbbVie CMO offer include:
- Liquid and Lyo (Vial) Drug Product in Sligo and Westport, Ireland.
- Topical creams and ointments in Waco, Texas
- Ophthalmic ointments in Waco, Texas
- Oral solid dose manufacturing in Cork, Ireland
- Hot melt extrusion in Clonshaugh, Ireland
- Custom synthetic small molecule in North Chicago, Illinois
- Highly potent small molecule in Sligo, Ireland
AbbVie’s continued growth and expansion creates a greater set of options for clients across the globe. Adding this expanded service offer with AbbVie’s commitment to pharmaceutical and operational excellence offers the industry a proven pharmaceutical manufacturing partner for many options, including end-to-end integrated services.
Commitment to supply
AbbVie treats every product with the same dedication and comprehensive support as its own. As a result, AbbVie’s customers realize the stability and security from aligning with a leading pharmaceutical company with a reputation for successfully developing and commercializing some of the world’s leading medications. A key part of that reputation is the company’s commitment to strategic, long-range (5–10 years) planning, which ensures both sufficient capacity for all products and the financial ability to make the capital investments required to ensure a stable supply.
AbbVie’s commitment to supply has been previously demonstrated in biologics at the company’s Bioresearch Center of Excellence in Worchester, Massachusetts. CAPEX for expansion was requested, approved, and installed for two recent upgrades, bringing online 18,000L of new capacity within the last eight years to meet growing customer demands.
“As a pharmaceutical company, we have ongoing upgrades taking place each year within our manufacturing network,” said Ottini. “It’s not uncommon for operations to request and approve CAPEX to support the long-range planning process as programs dictate.”
As an acknowledged leader in both the pharma and CMO industries, AbbVie constantly invests to make a difference. Investments across operations and within its own internal research and product development bolster innovative and scientific knowledge available to AbbVie CMO customers, which benefits their product development efforts, including successful milestone achievements. By offering its expertise to external customers, AbbVie CMO does more than simply add physical capacity to the sector; it delivers a high degree of talent and experienced pharmaceutical personnel to serve the needs of its customers.
When companies engage AbbVie Contract Manufacturing, they get more than a CMO. Customers can fully access the capabilities of a highly experienced biopharmaceutical company with almost 120 years of operational success as part of Abbott Laboratories prior to 2013. That history, including the company’s commitment to quality, ensures third-party projects benefit from AbbVie’s broad range of capabilities, portfolio of state-of-the-art facilities, and reputation for reliability, compliance, and delivery.
AbbVie was also recognized again with Specialty Awards in the categories of Innovation, On-time, Reputation, Right First Time, State-of-the-Art, and Strength of Science.
“Life Science Leader’s CMO Awards are the most meaningful in the drug development and manufacturing outsourcing industry. Each award represents the highest level of accomplishment as evaluated by actual customers. An award in any of the categories assessed, including capabilities, compatibility, expertise, quality, reliability, and service, acknowledges the advanced leadership and execution at the CMO recipient. Congratulations to this year’s CMO Award winners — you keep the industry moving forward.” says Louis Garguilo, Chief Editor and Conference Chair, Outsourced Pharma.
The magazine has issued CMO Awards annually since 2011, and AbbVie has received recognition each year.
“Industry Standard Research continues to consider it an honor to provide the primary market research data for Life Science Leader’s CMO Leadership Awards. ISR’s stringent screening processes ensures that only highly qualified industry decision-makers participate in our contract manufacturing benchmarking market research. This is paramount as we ask the research participants to provide experiential, not perceptual, feedback on their involvement with contract suppliers over the past 18 months. The data enables users of ISR’s market research to make confident business decisions based on the experiences of their industry peers.” Andrew Schafer, President of Industry.
For more than 40 years, AbbVie has provided CMO services for biologics, potent drugs, oral solid dose, fermentation, prefilled syringes, hot melt extrusion, fill/finish and APIs.
Daniela Ottini, Vice President, Operations Contract Manufacturing, says “This is a significant award, as it is based on operational performance as rated by our current clients, demonstrating their level of satisfaction at our effectiveness and efficiency. This recognition is shared across AbbVie Operations as a whole, as our contract manufacturing capabilities could not be delivered without close partnership with all functional areas”.
