CSL Behring Expands Manufacturing Facility In Kankakee, Illinois To Meet Patients' Growing Needs

The 140,000-square foot expansion has received regulatory approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

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Sep 30, 2014, 09:00 ET

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CSL Behring announced that it is set to commence operations in its newly expanded facility now that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval. The expansion significantly increases plasma processing and albumin production capacity in the Kankakee, Ill. facility.

The new facility will use the same state-of-the-art technology as CSL Behring's long-standing manufacturing center of excellence in Bern, Switzerland. This is an important step towards a common fractionation process throughout CSL Behring's global manufacturing network. The expansion is necessary due to the growing worldwide demand for CSL Behring's immunoglobulins and albumin.

CSL Behring's Executive Vice President Global Operations and Planning, Mary Sontrop, said the expansion in Kankakee is part of CSL Behring's multi-site expansion plan, which includes the expansion of its manufacturing facilities in Broadmeadows, Australia; Bern, Switzerland; and Marburg, Germany.

"CSL Behring is committed to serving patients with rare diseases in all corners of the world," Sontrop said. "In today's competitive market, we continually explore the latest technology that's available, and evaluate how it can make our operations and physical plant more efficient to meet patients' growing needs. Increasing Kankakee's ability to fractionate plasma and produce albumin and intermediate paste is an important step for our global operations."

Sontrop explained that the intermediate paste produced in Kankakee is sent to CSL Behring's other manufacturing facilities where it is used to make therapies for the treatment of immune deficiencies, bleeding and other medical disorders. Albumin is a plasma expander that quickly makes up for blood loss in accident victims, and that is also used to treat burn patients.

About CSL Behring
CSL Behring is a leader in the plasma protein therapeutics industry. Committed to saving lives and improving the quality of life for people with rare and serious diseases, the company manufactures and markets a range of plasma-derived and recombinant therapies worldwide.

CSL Behring therapies are used around the world to treat coagulation disorders including hemophilia and von Willebrand disease, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema and inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders in certain markets. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic diseases in the newborn.

CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. CSL Behring is a global biopharmaceutical company and a member of the CSL Group of companies. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL), is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. For more information, visit http://www.cslbehring.com/.

Contact:

Chris Florentz, CSL Behring
610-878-4316
[email protected]

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SOURCE CSL Behring