NC: Seqirus Readies for $9M Expansion Project in Holly Springs

Two years after its parent company, CSL, acquired Novartis' global influenza vaccine business for $275 million, Seqirus continues to ramp up production at its Holly Springs site and now the company is preparing for a $9 million facility expansion. 

The information was carried in the article below, from the Triangle Business Journal.

The expansion is for a new, 15,000-square-foot warehouse to support the company’s growth in manufacturing activity, says Seqirus VP of Operations and Holly Springs Site Head Dr. John Anderson. Seqirus will hold a groundbreaking for the new warehouse Thursday, with expected completion in just under a year, he says.

When complete, the new warehouse will provide for increased influenza vaccine output. In 2016, it made 6 million doses and increased to 21.6 million in 2017. But it plans to scale to 40 million to 50 million doses per year for the next few years – eventually reaching 100 million doses per year, according to Seqirus.

Along with meeting the growing seasonal demand when it comes to influenza vaccines, the new warehouse will also aid in increasing Seqirus’ pandemic readiness. In terms of the latter, the Holly Springs site has had a decade-long partnership with the U.S. government that sees it provide influenza vaccines for the possibility of a large-scale outbreak. 

“Holly Springs is becoming a very strategic manufacturing and development site for our global business,” says Anderson. The company has been investing in and has been seeing “seeing significant growth in demand” when it comes to its Flucelvax quadrivalent [four-strain dose] vaccine, he says, adding, a resulting increase in manufacturing “will create more jobs over time at the site.”

Seqirus currently employs 550 full-time employees and 150 contract workers at its 475,000-square-foot Holly Springs site, of which 85 percent have been local hires. At 185 acres, the site has ample room for continued facility expansion as needed. In fact, a few areas have already been marked on the company’s master plan for the site, Anderson notes. 

“We have an aggressive growth program and we’re investing in the business,” Anderson says. “We’re already seeing the realization of that growth strategy."

Seqirus expects to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2020. Parent company CSL has revenue of about $6 billion. Aside from Holly Springs, Seqirus has manufacturing facilities in Australia and the U.K.