Corning, a material-sciences company, has announced a planned investment of $4 billion in pharmaceutical packaging with the introduction of a new product, Corning Valor Glass, an alkali aluminosilicate-based product for parenteral drug packaging. Corning plans to make an initial investment of $500 million in the project, including manufacturing at facilities in New York, New Jersey and a now undisclosed location in the Southeast in the US. The company says the first $500-million phase of the investment will create 1,000 new US jobs as part of an overall planned investment of $4 billion and the creation of 4,000 new high-tech jobs.

In commenting on the project, Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and president said: “Making this next-generation product requires a new, advanced manufacturing platform, and we plan to build that platform right here in the United States.”

Corning partnered with Merck & Co. and Pfizer, which provided insights on pharmaceutical formulation and manufacturing processes, in combination with Corning’s glass-science and precision-forming capabilities to develop a glass packaging solution for injectable drugs in vials and cartridges. The companies’ continued collaborations will focus on additional evaluations and the deployment of the new product.

Kenneth Frazier, chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. said that Merck plans to convert several injectable products to the new glass packaging solution, pending appropriate regulatory approvals. Ian C. Read, Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, said that the company’s initial trial results with Valor Glass show promise, and that the company is working with Corning to assess its potential on products at several of Pfizer’s manufacturing sites.

The pharmaceutical glass packaging (composed of alkali aluminosilicate) is meant to enhance the storage and delivery of drug formulations by providing chemical durability, strength, and damage resistance, according to information from Corning.

Corning made the announcement at the White House on July 20, 2017 with President Donald J. Trump, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and Assistant to the President for Intragovernmental and Technology Initiatives Reed Cordish.

Source: Pfizer, Merck & Co, and Corning, and the White House