Strong growth is projected for the injectables drugs market, and CDMOs/CMOS are expanding sterile manufacturing & fill–finish capacity. DCAT Value Chain Insights rounds up the latest expansions.

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, pvanarnum@dcat.org

Capacity leaving and coming into the market
Independent of broader macro issues, such as the potential impact of US tariff/trade policy, top of mind for the fill–finish market on the CDMO/CMO side relates to capacity transitioning out of the market with Novo Holdings’ $16.5-billion acquisition of the CDMO, Catalent, a deal which closed last December (December 2024) and Novo Holding’s subsequent sale of three fill–finish sites to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion to support Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 agonists, Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide), respectively for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The deal netted Novo three fill–finish sites and related assets in Anagni, Italy, Bloomington, Indiana, and Brussels, Belgium. The Catalent acquisition is expected to gradually increase Novo Nordisk’s filling capacity from 2026 and onwards.

As that capacity transitions out of the market, more investment by CDMOs/CMOs is coming. A roundup of some key recent investments, including those from 2025 to date, are outlined below.

Vetter. In late June (June 2025), Vetter, a Ravensburg, Germany-headquartered CDMO of aseptic filling and packaging, broke ground on a new $285-million clinical manufacturing site in Des Plaines, Illinois. Vetter’s construction plans include a 160,000-square feet clinical production facility for aseptic manufacturing. The site will also feature new process areas for material preparation and compounding. Additional buildings will include supporting services, such as storage, laboratories, and offices. The clinical site is expected to be completed and ready for media fill by the end of 2029, with subsequent relocation plans of Vetter’s current clinical operations in Skokie, Illinois. With its new location, Vetter is strengthening its presence in the North American market and supplementing its existing clinical network in Skokie, Illinois, and Rankweil, Austria. The company is also expanding its sites in Ravensburg and Langenargen, Germany as well at its site in Austria.

Simtra BioPharma Solutions. Simtra BioPharma Solutions reported in July (July 2025) that it had purchased a 65-acre property in Bloomington, Indiana, with more than 300,000 square feet of available space for expansion under-roof near its existing manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Indiana. The company says that the move is part of a strategy to increase its manufacturing footprint in the US. The company further reports that it is evaluating a project to design and install manufacturing lines at the site in Bloomington, including the company’s first US-based commercial-scale capacity for oncology-focused injectable drug products. The facility would run isolator-based vial and prefilled syringe filling lines.

The purchase complements other previously announced investments, including a $250-million construction project currently underway at Simtra’s existing Bloomington manufacturing site and a recently completed $100+ million new production building at its site in Halle/Westfalen, Germany, and a $14-million conjugation and purification suite being built in Halle/Westfalen, Germany.

PCI Pharma Services. In May (May 2025), PCI Pharma Services completed its acquisition of Ajinomoto Althea, a San Diego, California-based sterile fill–finish CDMO and 100% subsidiary of the Japanese multinational conglomerate, Ajinomoto Co. Althea provides aseptic fill–finish services at clinical and commercial scales and was part of Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services, a CDMO of drug substances and sterile drug-product manufacturing. Under the deal, Althea was separated from Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services, and all other Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services continue to operate globally as part of the Ajinomoto Group. The acquisition provides PCI with its first-ever North American manufacturing location for prefilled syringes and cartridges, including isolator technology for these formats, as well as high-potent manufacturing suitable for ADCs. In addition, last year (2024), PCI announced investments exceeding $365 million to support the clinical – and commercial-scale final assembly and packaging of drug-device combination products utilizing advanced delivery systems, with an emphasis on injectable formats.

Lonza. Lonza is investing CHF 500 million ($547 million) in a large-scale, commercial drug-product fill–finish facility in Stein, Switzerland, scheduled to be operational in 2027.

Thermo Fisher Scientific. Earlier this month (September 2025), Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of Sanofi’s sterile fill-finish and packaging site in Ridgefield, New Jersey. The facility is now part of the company’s global sterile fill-finish manufacturing network and adds Ridgefield to its US sites in Greenville, North Carolina, and Plainville, Massachusetts.

Also, in 2025, Thermo Fisher is adding multiple new drug-product service lines, including four high-speed prefilled syringe lines at its site in Greenville, North Carolina, and one new line in Swindon, UK. That is in addition to expanding seven pharmaceutical development service lines to support sterile fill–finish at sites across Europe and the US (Ferentino, Italy, Greenville, North Carolina, Monza, Italy, and Plainville, Massachusetts).

Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing. Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) is adding a new 150,000-square-foot syringe and cartridge filling center designed to hold up to four syringe/cartridge filling and inspection lines. The new center is adjacent to GRAM’s existing 200,000-square-foot finishing and warehouse center. It brings the company to five manufacturing facilities and more than 450,000 square feet. of production space. Building construction is expected to be complete in 2025, with new filling and inspection equipment installed in 2026.

Piramal Pharma Solutions. Piramal Pharma Solutions, a CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products, is expanding its site in Lexington, Kentucky, which specializes in sterile compounding, liquid filling, and lyophilization for sterile injectable drug products. The Lexington site can manufacture 104 product batches per year (utilization at peak levels). Upon completion of the expansion in the first quarter of 2027, this capacity will increase to over 240 annual batches. The expansion will equip the Lexington site with an additional 24,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a new laboratory, and machinery.

Jubilant HollisterStier. Last year (February 2024), Jubilant HollisterStier opened its third sterile fill–finish manufacturing line at its facility in Spokane, Washington, and announced then it is advancing the next phase of its facility expansion for a fourth manufacturing line.

Kindeva Drug Delivery. Kindeva Drug Delivery is advancing its new 155,000-square-foot aseptic injectable fill–finish facility in Bridgeton, Missouri, which opened last year (2024).

Other expansions
Famar. In May (May 2025), Famar Group, an Athens, Greece-based CDMO of drug products, completed its acquisition of a sterile production site in Homburg (Saar), Germany, from MiP Pharma, a mid-sized bio/pharmaceutical company. With the closing of the acquisition, Famar will operate seven facilities across Europe. The site will be developed into a multi-customer CDMO platform under Famar ownership.

Bora. Bora Pharmaceuticals is adding a new fill–finish vial, syringe, and cartridge line at its site in Baltimore, Maryland. The installation will take place over the course of the next year (as reported in May 2025). The new line will operate under full isolator conditions and is suited for clinical and small-scale commercial supply.

Delpharm. Delpharm is modernizing its injectable manufacturing facility in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada. The facility manufactures 65 million units primarily for North America and specializes in the production of sterile drugs packaged in vials and ampoules. In late August (August 2025), the company reported that it had received additional funding of $60 million from the government of Quebec for the expansion of its Boucherville facility. That contribution adds to the previously confirmed $60-million investment from the Canadian federal government, along with $100 million in private capital, bringing the total investment for the expansion to $220 million. The project will expand the plant and install a new sterile filling line. It will also replace existing equipment at the facility and increase production capacity for injectable drugs.

In addition, in June (June 2025), the company inaugurated a new sterile filling line at its site in Saint-Rémy, France, to increase its production capacity for sterile vials or freeze-drying with an additional capacity of 45 million units in a 2-mL format.

Recipharm. In February (February 2025), Recipharm announced that a new modular sterile filling system for process development and pilot-scale and clinical supply became fully operational at its facility in Wasserburg, Germany. The system supports various product types, such as syringes and vials. The line can deliver 500 to 50,000 units per batch, covering all the development phases of a product. An additional pre-filled syringe module is being added to the installation.

Incog BioPharma Services. In May (May 2025), Incog BioPharma Services announced strategic expansion projects for 2025, which included the physical expansion of its facilities in Fisher, Indiana, scaling up of filling capabilities, and adding new finishing capabilities. Last September (September 2024), the company broke ground on its second building, adjacent and connected to its current manufacturing facility, on its Fishers, Indiana, campus. The 113,000-square-foot facility expansion will enable the company to provide device assembly capacity in support of autoinjectors, pens, wearable injectors, and syringe accessorizing. The addition will also support new labeling and final packaging capabilities. The company also added a new syringe and cartridge filling line at its current facility in Fisher, Indiana.

Pace Life Sciences. In August (August 2025), Pace Life Sciences re-opened its 33,000-square-foot facility in Salem, New Hampshire, to support small batch manufacturing following a remodeling and expansion of the site to establish a Center of Excellence for aseptic fill–finish processing. The center has capabilities in formulation development, analytical development, and sterile clinical supply manufacturing with flexible batch sizes with manual fills and automated fills.

Afton Scientific. Afton Scientific, a CDMO of small-batch filling of injectables, plans to invest over $200 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Albemarle County, Virginia. The company provides aseptic fill-finish services for preclinical to commercial-scale manufacturing.

Ten23health. Ten23 health, a Basel, Switzerland-based CDMO, opened in 2024 a new fill-finish facility in Visp, Switzerland. The new facility provides capacity for clinical and commercial fill-finish of vials, syringes, and cartridges, in combination with quality control microbiology labs and related office space. The two additional sterile manufacturing lines include a large-scale commercial and clinical filling line for ready-to-use primary packaging for syringes, cartridges, and vials as well as a clinical-to-commercial bulk vial filling facility, including two larger-scale lyophilizers. The combined output is estimated to be 30 million to 70 million units.

Upperton Pharma Solutions. Upperton Pharma Solutions recently completed the build of a new 7,000-square-foot sterile manufacturing facility in Nottingham, UK. The new facility is in addition to the company’s existing 50,000-square-foot facility and will support the manufacturing of aseptic and terminally sterilized small-volume liquids and powders for parenteral, nasal, and pulmonary delivery.

Adragos Pharma. Adragos Pharma, a Munich, Germany-based CDMO of drug products, announced last November (November 2024) the launch of a new ampoule filling line at its facility in Livron, France. The new line increases the company’s production capacity to over 160 million ampoules per year, with flexible fill volumes ranging from 1 mL to 20 mL. The new line marks the fourth line by the company and increases its capacity by 30%. Also, last November (November 2024), the company acquired Baccinex, a Swiss-based company specializing in aseptic fill-finish manufacturing. Baccinex, based in Courroux, Jura, Switzerland, provides sterile fill-finish processes for both liquid and lyophilized vials for clinical trial supplies and small-to-medium scale commercial production.