Catalent pumps $50M into Indiana fill-finish capacity with COVID-19 vaccine contracts in hand

With a suite of drugmakers looking for manufacturing partners in the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, major contract manufacturers are stepping in to help handle the load. One of those, New Jersey’s Catalent, is now injecting some significant change into one of its U.S. plants to keep up with demand.

Catalent will invest $50 million into a third high-speed filling line that would add capacity for 80 million additional vials per year at its Bloomington, Indiana plant, the New Jersey-based CDMO said Wednesday.

The newest fill line will help Catalent pick up an expected increase in business as the company works with a COVID-19 vaccine frontrunner to scale up production in the coming months.

Johnson & Johnson tapped Catalent’s Bloomington site in April to handle fill-finish duties for its recombinant protein-based COVID-19 shot.

As part of that deal, Catalent agreed to hire an additional 300 workers at the plant starting in July, with the goal of reaching 24/7 manufacturing schedules by January.