Sharp, a global leader in contract packaging, clinical supply services and small-scale sterile manufacturing, has  announced plans for the expansion of its Macungie, PA site in North America to increase its production capacity for sterile injectables secondary packaging. 

The expansion at Macungie will offer increased capacity for secondary packaging activities including Vial Labeling, Pre-Filled Syringe (PFS) assembly and labeling, Autoinjector/Pen assembly & labeling and Injectables Kitting and Cartoning for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. This latest investment at Macungie follows the recent addition of a 660 pallet 2-8 ˚C cold box, which was commissioned at the end of April.

The expansion adds 157,500 sq. ft. of open space to create a 315,000-square-foot facility, bringing Sharp’s total global footprint to more than 1.7 million square feet.

Jeff Benedict, Chief Commercial Officer at Sharp, commented: “Demand for sterile injectable medicines has skyrocketed over the last few years due to increased investment in the biologics industry across all therapeutic categories, rare and orphan disease therapies, and blockbuster GLP-1 agonists. 

The Macungie site operates in the heart of the East Coast’s biopharma community and is ideally located for companies that require injectable device assembly, labeling and packaging services. The site currently specializes in sterile injectable secondary packaging, bottling, specialty packaging and kitting with complementary services including packaging design, 2-8˚C cold chain storage and serialization.” 

The expansion follows reports that the sterile injectable market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 8% over the next 10 years to reach $5.7 Billion by 2030. (1)  

Kevin Orfan, CEO of Sharp, added: “With this expansion, the Macungie site will double in size allowing Sharp to offer additional capacity and capabilities for our biopharma clients for complex biologics and small-molecule injectable medicines.

Plans include the construction and fit-out of new packaging suites, ambient warehouse space, cold storage rooms as well as equipment and technology to support assembly, labelling and packaging of injectables. Once the GMP infrastructure is in place, we anticipate adding 75-100 colleagues to the Sharp team.”