AbbVie has started construction of a new active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in North Chicago, Illinois, a critical milestone in its strategy to build U.S. production capacity and capability. The API manufacturing facility, designed to produce immunology, oncology and neuroscience medicines, is expected to be fully operational and delivering treatments to patients by 2027.
“Today’s groundbreaking is an important milestone in AbbVie’s ongoing campaign to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation and manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.,” said Azita Saleki-Gerhardt, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operations officer, AbbVie. “Over the next decade, AbbVie plans to invest more than $10 billion in capital to add multiple new U.S. manufacturing plants and improve the lives of millions of patients in the U.S. and worldwide who depend on our medicines.”
The active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing process involves complex, multistage production of the active components that are responsible for making medicines effective. Once complete, the new North Chicago API manufacturing facility will expand AbbVie’s chemical synthesis operations and shift parts of API production currently handled in Europe and Asia to the U.S. This move will support domestic supply for both current and future medicines in neuroscience, immunology and oncology.
AbbVie employs 28,000 people across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The company’s previously announced $195 million investment in North Chicago is expected to create new roles and further strengthen its nationwide manufacturing presence, which already supports more than 6,000 jobs at 11 U.S. manufacturing sites. Headquartered in Illinois, AbbVie also counts over 11,000 employees in the state, dedicated to developing and producing innovative treatments for patients worldwide.
