The Catalent facility in Madison, Wisconsin, is one of its 13 sites in North America. The medical manufacturer has more than 20 additional facilities around the world. Catalent is buying Cook Pharmica in Bloomington. Courtesy photo
What Catalent Biologics does
• Manufactures investigational drugs in cells grown in stainlesssteel tanks.
• Provides a range of scale in protein production for consumer health product suppliers.
• Provides molecular testing and analytical review of products manufactured.
• Produces 70 billion doses for nearly 7,000 customer products.
• Played a role in nearly 50 percent of the new drug products approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in the past decade.
A Catalent official drew comparisons last week between the company’s facility in Madison, Wisconsin, and the company’s future use of Cook Pharmica in Bloomington.
Cook Pharmica’s anticipated sale to Catalent for $950 million came with a promise of expansion from both companies, and Madison may be the blueprint for continuing Bloomington’s growth as a regional hub for life sciences and related industries. The like-natured businesses of Cook Pharmica and Catalent Biologics Madison highlight the two cities’ similarities.
“Catalent is part of a burgeoning biopharma ecosystem here in Madison with significant ties to (the University of Wisconsin-Madison),” Paul Jadin, head of Madison Region Economic Partnership, said in a Friday telephone interview.
“The whole environment is growing because of research and graduates at UW-Madison.”
Both Jadin and Matthew Mikolajewski, the economic development director for the city of Madison, stressed the benefit of having a university for both research and a potential workforce.
“There are often connections between UWMadison faculty and UWMadison researchers with private companies,” Mikolajewski said. “That is occasionally one of the reasons why companies decide to locate here. In many respects, our colleagues at the university play a significant economic role.”
Catalent’s history
Michael Riley, vice president and general manager of Catalent Biologics, acknowledged the parallels between Catalent’s history in Madison and Bloomington’s emergence as a regional life sciences hub.
Originally housed at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Madison under the name Gala Design, Catalent was purchased in phases in 2002 and 2003 by a Dublin, Ohio, health care company, Cardinal Health. Cardinal Health formed Catalent Pharma Solutions from about a fourth of its workforce in 2007.
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