Novo Nordisk hires Fluor to build giant US diabetes drug API plant

By Gareth Macdonald

- Last updated on GMT

iStock/eternalcreative
iStock/eternalcreative

Related tags Food and drug administration

Novo Nordisk has hired Fluor Corporation to design and build the diabetes drug API plant it is setting up in Clayton, North Carolina.

The Danish drug manufacturer announced plans for the drug ingredient facility in August 2015​, citing a desire to expand its production presence in its largest market.

At present, all the drug actives Novo uses are made at its facility in Kalundborg, Denmark.

Texas-based Fluor announced it had been tasked with designing, procuring materials for and constructing the facility last month. The engineering firm explained the $1.2bn (€1.13bn) it will generate from the project has been included in its fourth quarter financial results.

Construction of the 830,000sqft facility is expected to be completed in mid-2019 according to Fluor, which said 2,500 employees and subcontractors will be involved in the project.

Novo expects to employ 700 people at the facility when it is operational in 2020.

Semaglutide

Manufacturing activities will focus on the production of finished APIs from raw material shipped to the site, including the ingredient for its oral diabetes candidate, semaglutide.

The drug was filed for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) assessment in December.

Novo’s exiting site in Clayton is responsible for the formulation, filling and packaging of its diabetes care products. The facility also produces the firm’s Felxpen and FlexTouch prefilled insulin devices for the US market.

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