--- title: 'Manufacturing Daily Summary: What Happened on October 7, 2026' headline: Bayer plans $2.2 billion Ohio plant as drugmakers add capacity description: SK pharmteco, Thermo Fisher and other suppliers outlined or completed manufacturing expansions across several regions. url: https://thebench.bio/news/manufacturing/2026-10-07 topic: manufacturing date: '2026-10-07' covers: - '2026-10-07' date_published: '2026-10-08T00:03:35Z' date_modified: '2026-10-08T00:03:35Z' sources: 3 publisher: The Bench (thebench.bio) --- # Manufacturing Daily Summary: What Happened on October 7, 2026 **Bayer plans $2.2 billion Ohio plant as drugmakers add capacity** SK pharmteco, Thermo Fisher and other suppliers outlined or completed manufacturing expansions across several regions. ## Today in brief Bayer plans a $2.2 billion pharmaceutical site in Ohio, while SK pharmteco outlined a five-year, $200 million US manufacturing expansion. [1] Thermo Fisher is adding sterile-drug and clinical-supply capacity, and LOTTE Biologics will produce drug substance for Alvotech biosimilars at its Syracuse plant. [2] [3] ## Bayer and SK pharmteco plan large US capacity additions Bayer plans a pharmaceutical manufacturing site in New Albany, Ohio, with a $2.2 billion investment to increase its US presence. [1] SK pharmteco said it will invest $200 million over five years to expand US peptide and small-molecule manufacturing. [1] SK pharmteco plans to add peptide production and purification capacity, small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient suites and development labs. The company estimates the project will create about 100 jobs. [1] Other expansions include Agilent Technologies' $725 million investment in Boulder, Colorado, for oligonucleotide manufacturing and Sterling Pharma Solutions' doubling of bioconjugation capacity in Deeside, Wales. [1] Hovione opened an East Windsor, New Jersey, facility that doubles its US capacity for spray-drying amorphous solid dispersions, a formulation method used to improve the solubility of some drugs. [1] Hovione estimates the site will employ about 80 people and plans to open a nearby tablet-making facility next year. [1] ## Thermo Fisher expands sterile manufacturing and clinical supply Thermo Fisher is expanding sterile drug-product manufacturing lines in Plainville, Massachusetts, and Monza and Ferentino, Italy, to support vial and prefilled-syringe production. [2] The Plainville project adds bioprocessing equipment and expands US good manufacturing practice capacity for monoclonal antibodies, the company said. [2] The company is also enlarging its clinical-supply storage site in Bohemia, New York, with a 52,000-square-foot expansion intended to increase clinical-label manufacturing capacity. [2] A new Tokyo facility is expected to double Japan's clinical-supply storage, distribution and secondary-packaging capacity. [2] ## Alvotech taps LOTTE's Syracuse site for biosimilar production Alvotech and LOTTE Biologics agreed on a long-term arrangement for LOTTE to produce drug substance for several Alvotech antibody biosimilars at its Syracuse facility for global supply. [3] The plant has 40,000 liters of bioreactor capacity, along with process-development and quality-control capabilities. [3] The companies said the facility passed an FDA inspection without observations. [3] Commercial supply depends on successful technology transfer, manufacturing qualification and regulatory approvals. [3] The companies have not identified the biosimilars or provided a commercial timeline. [3] ## The day in numbers - **$2.2 billion**: Bayer's planned investment in a pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Ohio. [1] - **$200 million**: SK pharmteco's planned five-year investment in US peptide and small-molecule manufacturing. [1] - **40,000 liters**: Bioreactor capacity at LOTTE Biologics' Syracuse facility. [3] ## Also published - [The BioPharm Brief: Advancing ADCs, Biosimilars and CAR-T Therapies](), BioPharm International - [Pharma Rethinks Supply Chain Planning as Disruptions Mount](), Pharmaceutical Commerce - [Electrical Signals Sharpen Bioprocess Control](), GEN - [Big Data Opportunities in Biomanufacturing](), GEN - [Adding Low-Fidelity Data to ML Training Sets Could Yield Better Process Models](), GEN - [Why Pharma Is Automating for Resilience](), Pharmaceutical Commerce - [CPHI 2026: Moderna builds on its COVID-era manufacturing lessons](), Pharmaceutical Technology ## Sources 1. [Drug services industry touts capacity investments](), C&EN Pharmaceuticals, 2026-10-07 2. [CPHI 2026: Big Thermo Fisher announcements include new manufacturing lines in US and Italy](), BioProcess International, 2026-10-07 3. [Alvotech Selects LOTTE Biologics' Syracuse Plant to Make Biosimilar Antibody Drug Substance](), BioPharm International, 2026-10-07 --- The Bench wrote this from the reporting cited above, with a language model drafting and editing. [1]: [2]: [3]: