Evonik has officially begun construction of its $220 million global-scale production facility for pharmaceutical specialty lipids in Lafayette, Indiana, US. The new facility is expected to secure the industry’s access to critical excipients needed for mRNA vaccines and other nucleic acid therapies. The plant is scheduled to go onstream in 2025.

“Our new Lipid Innovation Center will secure the health innovations of tomorrow. Through this investment, we reinforce our leading position in the pharmaceutical industry. We are privileged to support the U.S. with pandemic preparedness and enable the development of cutting-edge medicines,” said Christian Kullmann, CEO, Evonik.

During the COVID-19 pandemic Evonik emerged as a key player in securing the availability of functional excipients for leading vaccine producers.

“This new world-scale facility will enhance Evonik’s unique position as a CDMO in the pharmaceutical industry. Be it development quantities or large scale, be it formulation or fill-finish – our partners in the RNA drug space can rely on us along the entire process,” said Johann-Caspar Gammelin, president of the Nutrition & Care division at Evonik.

The total investment into the commercial-scale lipid facility amounts to $220 million. The U.S. Government has entered a cooperative agreement with Evonik for a cost share of up to $150 million through its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Evonik’s Lipid Innovation Center will be built on the grounds of Evonik Tippecanoe Laboratories, which is one of the world’s largest contract manufacturing facilities for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and Evonik's second-largest site in the U.S. The new flexible development and manufacturing facility will allow for the rapid scale up and manufacturing of a variety of specialty lipids following high quality standards to serve future applications of RNA technology in infectious disease control, cancer immunotherapy, protein replacement, and gene therapy.