Basel, Switzerland – September 15, 2026 -- CordenPharma has committed a multi-year €80 million investment to expand sterile injectable manufacturing at its FDA & EMA-approved Caponago site near Milan, Italy, targeting a total production capacity of 500 million units per year.
CordenPharma finalizes €13 million land and building acquisition to expand Caponago footprint by over 50%
The company completed the purchase of an 11,000 m2 commercial building and 26,000 m2 of adjacent land on 28 July 2026, adjacent to its existing late-stage aseptic fill & finish area. The new space can accommodate at least four aseptic fill & finish lines, four visual inspection lines and four packaging lines, with room for customer-owned lines, large-scale lyophilization and auto-injector assembly.
Syntegon high-speed line adds over 500,000 units of daily PFS and cartridge output
Over the past two years, CordenPharma has added two aseptic fill & finish isolator lines within its existing Caponago operations. A clinical and small-scale commercial combo line from Bausch & Ströbel now handles pre-filled syringes, vials and cartridges, while a high-speed Syntegon line produces more than 500,000 pre-filled syringe and cartridge units per day. The site has also expanded automatic secondary packaging for PFS, vials and ampoules, and doubled analytical testing capacity.
New isolator lines target completion in mid-2027 and 2028
The Bausch & Ströbel line is scheduled for completion in mid-2027, with the Syntegon high-speed line following in 2028. Combined with the new facility acquisition, the expansions form the basis for CordenPharma's projected 500 million unit annual capacity across pre-filled syringes, liquid and lyophilized vials, cartridges and auto-injectors.
Expansion targets rising CDMO demand in oncology, obesity, diabetes and inflammatory disease
CordenPharma positions the capacity increase to serve growing outsourcing demand for complex modalities, including peptide-based GLP-1 therapeutics, oligonucleotides, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and biosimilars. The Caponago site will offer integrated injectable and LNP manufacturing on the same campus, giving customers a single-site option spanning peptide, small molecule, biologic and oligonucleotide-based injectable therapeutics.
Dr. Michael Quirmbach, President & CEO of CordenPharma Group, said the investment was backed by shareholder Astorg and strengthens the company's end-to-end supply capabilities for injectable outsourcing. CordenPharma operates 13 facilities across Europe, North America and Asia, employing more than 3,500 people, and reported sales of €960 million in the 2025 financial year. Astorg, a Pan-European private equity firm, acquired CordenPharma in 2022.