Fresenius Kabi will invest $100M in eastern North Carolina as it expands its current production facility and prepares to build a new onsite manufacturing center.
Germany-based Fresenius Kabi, part of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, will invest $100 million in eastern North Carolina as it expands its current production facility and prepares to build a new onsite manufacturing center. The investment will significantly grow the Wilson site with the addition of hundreds of new employees.
In a brief announcement this morning, Fresenius Kabi said its investment in Wilson will include an expansion of the company’s pharmaceutical production facility as well as the construction of a new manufacturing facility. Both sites will develop and manufacture products used in hospitals and clinics across North America.
With the expansion, Fresenius Kabi will add about 445 new positions over the next five years. Jobs will include production specialists, engineers, scientists and managers, the company said after it announced the expansion plans. Fresenius Kabi already employs more than 100 people in Wilson, which is less than an hour from Raleigh. The company’s current Wilson site specializes in the production of ready-to-administer syringes. The German company has owned the eastern North Carolina facility since January 2016.
“Our strategy is to produce in the U.S. and to invest in products and operations that meet important customer needs while helping make health care more accessible for patients. We’re pleased to continue this approach at our site in North Carolina,” Steven R. Nowicki, Fresenius Kabi’s head of global operations in North America, said in a statement.
The $100 million investment in Wilson is being supported in part by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the N.C. Economic Investment Committee. If Fresenius meets its goals, the state agreement will authorize reimbursement to the company of up to $7.2 million, spread over 12 years.
The North Carolina expansion comes about two months after Fresenius Kabi broke ground on an a $250 million expansion project in Melrose Park, Ill. That expansion is expected to significantly increase capacity for the production of injectable generic pharmaceuticals, the company said in August when it first announced the project.
The new site in Melrose Park isn’t the only investment Fresenius Kabi has made in Illinois this year. In April, the company slapped down $4.3 billion to acquire Illinois-based Akorn Pharmaceuticals and a larger toehold in the United States. Akorn produces a diverse portfolio of sterile ophthalmics, topical creams, ointments and gels, oral liquids, otic solutions (for the ear), nasal sprays and respiratory drugs. By acquiring generic drugmaker Akorn, Fresenius said the company will complement its existing business. Akorn has a diversified portfolio of more than 180 generic, branded, OTC and animal health products.
