ESTEVE CDMO has approved an additional $17.5 million investment at its Morton Grove, Illinois, facility to expand manufacturing capacity and improve containment in its development laboratories. The new spending brings the total investment announced for the site to $33 million.
The latest project includes two 500-gallon reactors, containment upgrades in early-stage development laboratories and a warehouse renovation. It follows a $15.5 million expansion program announced earlier this year.
The additional reactors will increase the site’s capacity to manufacture small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates as customer projects move toward larger clinical and commercial production. The laboratory and warehouse work is intended to support that expansion alongside early-stage development.
Morton Grove houses process research and development, analytical and stability testing, current good manufacturing practice API manufacturing, and chemistry, manufacturing and controls support. Those operations allow pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers to conduct development and manufacturing work at the same site.
Andrea Oro, ESTEVE CDMO’s managing director for the United States and global head of commercial operations and strategy, described Morton Grove as the company’s U.S. center for early-stage development and manufacturing. Site Director Chen Qingguang said the upgrades will provide additional infrastructure for employees working on customer programs.
Based in Barcelona, Spain, ESTEVE CDMO develops and manufactures small-molecule APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates for other companies. The Morton Grove expansion adds U.S. capacity to those services, with equipment for larger manufacturing campaigns and laboratory changes for development work.
The approved $17.5 million project and the earlier $15.5 million program together account for the $33 million in announced investment at Morton Grove.