Cook Pharmica invests $80M in expansion

Cook Pharmica, the biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing division of USA-based Cook Medical, will invest $80.0 million in an 80,000 square-foot expansion at its existing site in Bloomington, Indianna. This is expected to add another 200 jobs, including professional, hourly and management employees, at the company when the expansion is completed and fully operational.

This marks another significant milestone for Cook Medical, which is expanding rapidly both locally and on an international scale. Last year, a major expansion was announced for Cook Urological in Spencer, Indianna, and others are planned or have been completed recently at several of the medical product manufacturing company's overseas plants. A new Cook office and warehouse in Shanghai, China, also is slated to open this year, serving the group's customers throughout Asia.

Plans in Bloomington call for the creation of two filling lines and complementary finishing lines. This includes one high-speed syringe filling line and one low-to-medium-speed vial filling line with lyophilization capacity up to 250 square feet. Both lines will feature isolator technology. Construction will begin in mid-2008, and is planned for an early 2010 completion. Additional space remains within the current campus for more than 600,000 square feet for potential expansion as demand for Cook Pharmica's services grows.