Plasma Producer Octapharma Expands Location in Vienna-Favoriten

The extension building was presented to the public on Wednesday, which is expected to greatly increase capacities for visual inspection, packaging, and logistics. A total of 200 million euros were invested by plasma producer Octapharma in the expansion, with further millions to be invested in the operation in the coming years.

Production at Vienna-Favoriten Location Increased by 50 Percent Due to Expansion

The groundbreaking took place in September 2023, and the expansion was completed in about 15 months. The areas of visual inspection, packaging, and logistics have more than doubled from 2,800 to a total of 6,300 square meters. Production is expected to increase by 50 percent - also to meet the "increasing demand for plasma products," said Managing Director Barbara Rangetinger at the press conference. Most recently, Octapharma built a new production building with an investment volume of 142 million euros from 2019 to 2021.

To substantiate this, the pharmaceutical company cited a study by a US market research company. The international market for plasma fractionation - a process for extracting proteins from human blood plasma - is expected to grow from the current 35.2 billion to 62.8 billion US dollars in the next eight years. This is due, among other things, to the global increase in people with bleeding disorders, whose number has increased from 280,000 (2013) to 465,000 (2023) according to the World Federation of Hemophilia. "The products are in demand worldwide," said Alexander Herzog, Secretary General of the Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Austria. In Austria, the pharmaceutical industry contributes about three percent to the gross domestic product. The pharmaceutical industry is also strongly represented in the other federal states, including Tyrol.

Plasma Producer Octapharma Plans to Further Expand Vienna-Favoriten Location in the Future

Currently, 1,500 employees work at Octapharma's Vienna location - it is the company's largest worldwide with a total of 31 branches. A large part of the production is exported, for example to China, the USA, or Indonesia. The extension building in Vienna was created to prevent production failures. At present, the visual inspection, i.e., the optical examination of the drugs for errors, is still semi-automatic, but a full automatic system for visual support is expected to be introduced by 2027.

Investments will continue to be made in the location in the future. According to Rangetinger, another production line is planned. In addition, AGES, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, recently inspected the operation due to the now stricter regulations. As a result, adjustments will have to be made, among other things, in bottle filling. Approximately 170 to 180 million euros are to be provided "in the next five to eight years".

The company, headquartered in Switzerland, was founded in 1983 by German entrepreneur Wolfgang Marguerre. It is 100 percent family-owned. Octapharma is present in the market with products in the three therapeutic areas of hematology, immunology, and intensive care medicine.

(APA/Red)

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