Wacker Boosts Its Biopharmaceutical Arm

Wacker Chemie will invest more than $22 million to expand its biopharmaceutical operations in Jena, Germany.

The expansion involves two projects. One will double the manufacturing space at the existing facility, partly by adding a new purification station to help ease bottlenecks. The expansion, as well as the existing plant, will comply with current Good Manufacturing Practice pharmaceutical manufacturing standards and will be completed at the end of 2009.

The second project will add a new process-development and quality-control building devoted to supporting the company's proprietary Escherichia coli-based protein secretion technology. This new building is scheduled for completion in late 2008.

Separately, Wacker is in "advanced discussions" with Air Products & Chemicals over purchasing Air Products' shareholdings in two polymer joint ventures. One venture, Air Products Polymers, makes vinyl acetate-ethylene emulsions, and the other, Wacker Polymer Systems, makes dispersible polymer powders from the emulsions. The ventures were formed in 1998, when they had annual sales of about $800 million.