Croda breaks ground on PA lipid plant

The facility in Lamar, Pennsylvania will be used to manufacture lipid nanoparticles used to support mRNA vaccines and gene-edited therapeutics, says Croda.

In mRNA and drug manufacturing, lipids are used to deliver mRNA vaccines and gene editing therapies, stabilize and protect drugs, and improve the solubility of drugs. According to Croda, the firm was integral in scaling-up and providing lipids to support mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and since then “there has been an explosion of mRNA and gene editing projects that use the same delivery system.”

As such, the 23,680 square-foot facility, situated on an 80-acre cGMP site acquired by Croda in 2021, will help “drive next generation vaccines and therapies through research and clinical development to commercialization,” Russ Niksic, SVP for North America at Croda said in a statement.

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The project is supported by federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

“The on-going collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services and its premier biomedical countermeasure development agency, BARDA, has afforded Croda and this team the opportunity and we are extremely excited and proud,” said Bradley Cook, VP for North American Operations at Croda.

According to the government contract, initial funding stood at $75 million but has decreased by 60% to $30 million.

Up to 50 new jobs are expected to be created.