Corning Invests in New Glass Packaging Facility

Material-sciences company Corning announced the construction of a new high-volume facility in Durham County, NC, to support the manufacturing of Valor Glass, the company’s new glass container engineered for the storage and delivery of injectable drugs. The product is the result of a collaboration between Corning and Gerresheimer, a manufacturer of glass and plastic products, initially announced in July 2017. 

The new facility will be constructed adjacent to a Corning Life Sciences manufacturing facility, enabling the company to realize synergies between the two businesses, as stated by Corning. The company expects the new facility to operational by the end of 2019. 

The investment will expand the company’s glass packaging capacity and create approximately 300 new jobs. 

According to Corning, adding capacity for the manufacturing of its  glass packaging product in Durham is part of the company’s plan announced in July 2017 to invest $500 million and create 1000 new jobs in the United States in a collaboration with Merck and Pfizer. 

“This progress is made possible by great customers like Merck and Pfizer, and the strong support that we have received from Senator Burr, Governor Cooper, and the Durham County Commissioners, the White House Office of American Innovation, and FDA’s Emerging Technology Team,” said Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman, CEO, and president, in a company press release.

“We have been part of the Valor program since its outset and we are thrilled to take part in today’s ceremony which celebrates the outstanding progress in the development of this remarkable product.  This technology is a critical advancement in pharmaceutical packaging,” said Sanat Chattopadhyay, executive vice president and president, Merck Manufacturing Division, in the release.

“We are proud to have partnered with Corning to advance this revolutionary new glass for medicines that are critical to patients. Our ongoing testing at several of our major sterile injectable [US] manufacturing sites continues to show promise, and we continue to work with Corning to assess the full potential of this new, innovative glass,” said Kirsten Lund-Jurgensen, executive vice president and president, Pfizer Global Supply, in the release. 

This latest announcement follows similar Corning investments in the development and manufacturing of its glass packaging product in Big Flats and Erwin, NY.

Source: Corning