British drugmaker AstraZeneca will invest $445 million (about 630 billion won) in its Texas plant to expand production capacity. The move aims to respond to rising global demand for the company's hyperkalemia treatment "Lokelma."
AstraZeneca said on the 15th (local time) that it will build a new building at its plant in Coppell, Texas, the sole production site for Lokelma, and add two production lines to double capacity. It will also carry out a comprehensive renovation of active pharmaceutical ingredient production, laboratories, warehouses, and administrative space.
Lokelma is an oral therapy that lowers blood potassium levels, secured from ZS Pharma, which AstraZeneca acquired for $2.7 billion in 2015. Its approval was twice rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to manufacturing issues, but after receiving final approval in 2018, it became a key product driving the company's sales growth. Lokelma's sales in the first half of this year were $328 million (about 460 billion won), up 31% from a year earlier. Its main rival drug is known to be CSL's "Veltassa."
Jim Fox, head of Americas supply operations at AstraZeneca, said, "The Coppell plant has been a core facility driving local employment for the past 10 years," and added, "This investment is a strategic decision to strengthen the global pharmaceutical supply chain in the future."
The investment plan is part of a large-scale program in which AstraZeneca said it will invest $50 billion (70 trillion won) in the United States over the next five years. The company recently also broke ground on a $4.5 billion active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility near Richmond, Virginia.