CSL breaks ground on USD1.5B plasma manufacturing expansion in Illinois

USA—Australian Biopharmaceutical Company CSL has broken ground on a USD1.5 billion expansion at its Kankakee, Illinois facility, significantly advancing its plasma-derived therapy production capabilities.

The company announced the development on March 9, following hints about U.S. manufacturing growth late last year.

The expanded facility will create at least 300 new direct jobs when it comes online by 2031.

Currently, the Kankakee site employs more than 1,200 workers at a location approximately one hour south of Chicago.

Advanced manufacturing technology

CSL plans to incorporate its Horizon 2 production process into the expanded facility, which the company describes as a cornerstone of its global manufacturing growth strategy.

This yield-enhancing technology produces greater quantities of immunoglobulin from the same base amount of plasma, improving efficiency across operations.

“This site expansion marks an important step forward in increasing efficiency by incorporating new, innovative manufacturing processes and technology into how we produce the plasma-based medicines needed by so many people,” said Mary Oates, CSL’s chief operating officer.

She emphasized that the project will increase protein yield from each gram of collected plasma, strengthening Kankakee’s role as a vital site in the company’s global network.

Critical medicines for life-threatening conditions

CSL’s Behring division oversees plasma-derived therapies that treat conditions including hemophilia, primary immunodeficiency, and hereditary angioedema.

Physicians also use these medicines as emergency treatments for severe injury and critical conditions like postpartum hemorrhage.

These plasma-based products account for well over half of CSL’s overall revenue.

Strategic timing amid vaccine division challenges

The investment comes as CSL’s vaccine division, Seqirus, faces market headwinds.

The company had planned to separate Seqirus as part of a cost-savings initiative last summer but paused those plans in October.

CSL cited a volatile U.S. influenza vaccine market that would have prevented the de-merger from reaching its full value potential.

In November, CSL pledged the USD1.5 billion investment to bolster American plasma-based medicine manufacturing.

The announcement joined similar commitments from multiple pharmaceutical companies last year, with the industry pledging tens of billions of dollars to expand U.S. infrastructure in response to import tariff threats from the Trump administration.

CSL clarified this week that its U.S. capacity expansion reflects both business needs and alignment with the current administration’s policy of encouraging companies to grow their American manufacturing footprint.

Global manufacturing developments

Despite the expansion, CSL closed one filling department at the Kankakee site in April 2024, resulting in the layoff of 65 employees.

A company spokesperson described the closure as a commitment to regulatory authorities, including the FDA, that site leadership had communicated to staff several years earlier.

In December, CSL opened a new USD1 billion cell-based influenza vaccine and antivenom facility in Melbourne, Australia.

The facility replaces a previous egg-based vaccine manufacturing site and will supply vaccines to Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.