USA – Evonik, a provider of drug delivery technologies, is building a new, highly flexible, global-scale production facility for pharmaceutical lipids in the US.

The new plant at Evonik’s Tippecanoe site in Indiana – USA, will position the company for future growth in novel mRNA-based therapies beyond COVID-19 vaccines.

The Tippecanoe site is Evonik’s preferred location for this project due to its existing infrastructure, a highly skilled workforce, and readily available technologies.

Tippecanoe is one of the world’s largest sites for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and Evonik’s second-largest site in the US, with around 650 employees.

The new multi-purpose facility will allow the rapid and flexible production of a variety of lipids. These will serve future applications of mRNA technology in infectious disease control, cancer immunotherapy, protein replacement, and gene therapy.

The new facility will help ensure a rapid and extensive supply of lipids as needed in case of a future pandemic.

Construction is set to begin in early 2023, and the plant is scheduled to go onstream in 2025. The investment into the lipid facility will help create more than 80 highly skilled jobs in the Lafayette region.

The total investment of US$220 million includes US Government funding of up to US$150 million through Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Additional support will be provided by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC), Greater Lafayette Commerce (GLC), and Duke Energy.

The Health Care business of Evonik, a specialty chemicals company headquartered in Essen, Germany, serves as integrated service provider of products and technologies for mRNA-based medicines.

Lipids are critical components in the formulation of nucleic acid therapies.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Evonik supplied lipids for use with mRNA active ingredients (messenger ribonucleic acid) to Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination campaigns worldwide.

It can be designed for a broad range of pharmacological applications. mRNA vaccines, for example, teach cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response.

“With this investment in lipid production, we are further expanding our leading position on the global market and specifically strengthening our Health Care business,” said Evonik CEO Christian Kullmann.

“It supports our strategic transformation into ‘Next Generation Evonik’, contributing value-added solutions with superior environmental and socio-economic profiles to our customers.”

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