Fresenius Kabi Celebrates $100 M Wilson Pharma Expansion

Fresenius Kabi logo

Fresenius Kabi, a global health care company based in Germany, hosted a topping off ceremony last week to celebrate the $100 million expansion of its pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Wilson. 

The topping off ceremony was a traditional celebration of construction projects upon the installation of the topmost structural member – in this case, signing celebrants’ names on the final huge steel I-beam at the growing pharmaceutical production center in Wilson. 

The expansion will add at least 445 new jobs to the workforce of 100-plus at the Wilson County site by the time it’s completed in 2022, increasing the company’s production of affordable, generic medicines for use in hospitals and clinics.

Officials prepare to sign final beam at Fresenius Kabi Wilson
Gathering in the rain to sign the huge steel beam behind them are (from left)
George Sherill, chief of staff, North Carolina Department of Commerce;
Rob Boyette, chairman, Wilson County Board of Commissioners;
Bruce Rose, mayor of Wilson; Wolfgang Salrein, vice president, Wilson expansion project;
Michael Schönhofen, Ph.D., president, pharmaceuticals and devices division, Fresenius Kabi;
Paul Sullivan, vice president, Gilbane Building and Lee Ebel, southeast regional leader at CRB. 

The North Carolina Biotechology Center provided technical support for the corporate expansion, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. Other partners included the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, Wilson County, the City of Wilson, and the Wilson Economic Development Council.

Fresenius Kabi, with global headquarters in Bad Homburg, Germany, specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition used to help critically and chronically ill patients.

The company broke ground in September 2017 on a $250 million expansion at its pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Melrose Park, Ill. In total, the company employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S., including at its U.S. headquarters in Lake Zurich, Ill.

Wyatt Corbett, NCBiotech Writer
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