Less than a year after beginning a $65 million expansion at its Clayton diabetes finished products plant, Novo Nordisk has announced a further capacity investment.

In February 2018, Novo Nordisk announced plans to up capacity at its finished product plant in Clayton, North Carolina through a $65 million (€74 million) aimed at fulfilling the demand for its diabetes and obesity medicines.

Ten months on, and the Danish drugmaker has committed a further $22 million to the site and will add a further 22 full-time jobs.

Image: iStock/Milenius

“The $65 million project that was announced earlier this year is progressing as planned,” Novo Nordisk spokesperson Anne Margrethe Hauge told BioProcess Insider, adding hiring began earlier this year.

“We expect the project be complete in 2020. Regarding the $22 million expansion announced this week, we also expect it to also be complete in 2020.

“Both of these expansions are related to production capacity investments (new production lines) and not necessarily expanding our physical footprint/buildings.”

The plant is responsible for the formulation, filling, inspection, assembly and packaging of diabetes and obesity medicines, including its large portfolio of insulin products.

It will also support the nearby Diabetes Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (DAPI) facility, announced in 2015 at a cost of $2 billion. The 833,000 square foot facility will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for a range of Novo Nordisk’s current and future GLP-1 and insulin medicines, and, once operational in 2020, will hire 700 staff.

An Image of the future API plant in Clayton, NC. c/o Novo Nordisk

“As the prevalence of diabetes has grown in the U.S., so too has the demand for effective treatments,” Lars Rebien Sørensen, current Novo Nordisk chairman said at the groundbreaking ceremony in 2016 when he was serving as CEO. “This site will play a vital role in enabling us to meet the needs of people living with diabetes in the U.S. for years to come.”