Germany's Vetter Plans to Hire 300 to Staff New Facility in Illinois

July 13, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

CHICAGO – German contract manufacturing company, Vetter, plans to construct a new $320 million manufacturing facility in suburban Des Plaines that will employ up to 300 people.

Vetter’s new site will allow the company to provide even more support to one of its biggest clients, AbbVie , the Chicago Tribune reported. Vetter plans to acquire an existing building and raze it and in its place construct a 1.2 million-square-foot property, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. The property is currently owned by the Salvation Army.

The Tribune said Ravensburg, Germany-based Vetter began looking at the property in December 2015. The property was ideal for the contract manufacturer’s needs due to its proximity to O’Hare International Airport, expressways and “has all the necessary utility infrastructure.”

It is unknown if the company plans to seek financial incentives from local and state governments to complete the project. Vetter did sign an economic development agreement with the state of Illinois, but details have not been disclosed, according to the Associated Press.

Vetter already has a location in suburban Chicago. According to the company website, it operates a sales office and production site in Skokie, Ill. It is unclear if the company plans to keep those sites open once the Des Plaines site is operational, or if those employees would be shifted to the new site. Des Plaines officials must still approve Vetter’s plans and the company plans to present the project to zoning officials as well as the general public in a community meeting. Vetter employs approximately 3,600 people globally. The company has developed several injection methods for its clients, including AbbVie, such as Vetter-Ject, as well as its dual-chamber syringe Vetter Lyo-Ject.

Vetter’s contract manufacturing services spans from early clinical development through commercial filling and final packaging of parenteral drugs. The 35-year-old company has experience working with complex compounds, including monoclonal antibodies, peptides and interferons.

Vetter is a specialist in the production of aseptically prefilled syringe systems, cartridges and vials. Earlier this year Vetter was announced as a winner of AbbVie’s Triumph Award for “meeting AbbVie’s ‘predetermined high-level demands of service’.

“This award is a reflection of the value that Vetter brings to the biopharmaceutical industry, and consequently to patients worldwide, and is yet another affirmation that Vetter continues to exceed the expectations of our peers in areas of critical importance to their business,” Peter Soelkner, Vetter’s managing editor said in a statement.

The new facility will certainly keep the company closer to AbbVie, as well as other pharma companies in suburban Chicago like Abbott and Baxter .