As demand for plasma-based medicines increases worldwide, CSL has opened a high-capacity facility in Australia dedicated to “fractionating” human plasma so it can be used to treat hemophilia, immune system problems, burns and other life-threatening medical conditions.
What is fractionation? Plasma is a protein-rich component of human blood. Fractionation takes donated plasma and separates its components, which include albumin, immunoglobulin and other proteins.
The AUD $900 million Broadmeadows facility, which opened on 7 December, will increase the amount of plasma that can be processed on site to more than nine million plasma equivalent liters per year. Construction of the facility started in 2018.
“With the construction of this new facility in Victoria, CSL will continue to meet the increasing demand for our plasma biotherapies not only in Australia, but also for our patients worldwide who rely on us every day,” said CSL CEO and Managing Director Paul Perreault.
The facility also expands state-of-the-art manufacturing in Australia, where CSL got its start more than 100 years ago. Today, CSL is a global biotech company with 30,000 employees and locations around the world. In addition to plasma fractionation, CSL also makes medicines that use recombinant technology and gene and cell therapy. Its vaccine business, CSL Seqirus, protects public health.
The Broadmeadows Plasma Fractionation Facility is part of CSL’s $2 billion-plus investment in Australia, which also includes a new cell-based influenza vaccine facility for CSL Seqirus in Tullamarine and CSL’s new global headquarters and R&D facilities in the heart of Melbourne’s biomedical precinct.
The new facility in Broadmeadows, which recently received approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, will process domestic plasma from Australian, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysian donor plasma, in addition to commercially sourced plasma through CSL Plasma, one of the world’s largest collectors of human plasma.
CSL Behring has constructed a similar fractionation facility simultaneously in Marburg, Germany, with the projects promoting cross-functional and cross-cultural development opportunities for the company’s global employees.
