PCI Pharma Services is expanding its drug substance manufacturing facility within its San Diego campus in California, US.
The company is investing $100m in the expansion, which was announced in April 2026. The expanded facility is expected to be operational in the first half of 2028 (H1 2028).
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The project forms part of a wider investment programme of more than $1bn across PCI’s US and European operations, aligned with the increasing focus of pharmaceutical manufacturers and development partners on strengthening US supply chain resilience.
The investment programme is designed to enhance support for drug product formulation and manufacture, the provision of clinical trial materials and the assembly of drug-device combination products, supporting programmes from early clinical phases through to commercial market launch.
Location
PCI Pharma’s San Diego campus is located at 6114 Nancy Ridge Drive in the Sorrento Ridge Business Park, San Diego, California.
It serves as the company’s primary West Coast centre of excellence for clinical trial storage, logistics and distribution operations.
PCI Pharma drug substance manufacturing facility expansion details
PCI Pharma’s latest investment in the San Diego campus is aimed at expanding its sterile fill–finish and advanced drug delivery capabilities.
The expansion will add a second high‑speed isolator filling line for ready‑to‑use prefilled syringes and cartridges. This additional line is intended to more than double the site’s current syringe and cartridge filling capacity.
The existing isolator fill-finish line in the San Diego campus supports and manufactures more than 45 US Food and Drug Administration approved products.
PCI Pharma San Diego campus details
PCI Pharma’s San Diego campus provides large‑scale aseptic filling for prefilled syringes and cartridges, together with specialised capabilities in oligonucleotides, peptides, complex formulations and lyophilisation for injectable products, including nanoparticles, mRNA, monoclonal antibodies, proteins and highly potent compounds.
The facilities incorporate Annex 1‑compliant robotic, gloveless isolator platforms for aseptic filling operations.
The campus also offers Good Manufacturing Practice-adherent packaging, labelling, warehousing and distribution across the full range of temperature conditions including controlled room temperature of 15–25°C, as well as chilled and frozen storage. This integrated model supports faster supply of treatments while maintaining stringent quality requirements and robust sterility assurance throughout production.
Previous investments in PCI Pharma’s San Diego campus
As part of its $1bn investment strategy, PCI Pharma acquired Ajinomoto Althea in May 2025. The acquisition added high‑potency vial filling with lyophilisation at the San Diego campus, expanding the company’s sterile fill-finish capacity and providing additional capability to support antibody drug conjugates in oncology.
PCI Pharma also recently invested in advanced automated visual inspection (AVI) systems for sterile fill-finish operations at its San Diego campus and Bedford campus.
Across its US facilities, the company’s AVI infrastructure is configured to handle more than 70 million prefilled syringes and cartridges and 40 million vials annually, in line with the quality requirements of global pharmaceutical manufacturers.
In April 2023, PCI Pharma installed automated sterile fill-finish lines supplied by Cytiva in San Diego. The Microcell vial filler and SA25 aseptic filling work cell systems are designed to fill a range of sterile medicines into vials and syringes for small to mid‑scale project requirements.
The systems support the manufacture and supply of investigational medicines from Phase I through Phase III for both local and international clinical programmes. Used in combination with PCI Pharma’s broader service offering, the equipment is intended to shorten timelines from project initiation through to clinical supply of injectable products.
Marketing commentary on PCI Pharma Services
PCI Pharma Services is an integrated global contract development and manufacturing organisation focused on biologic and small‑molecule therapies.
The company offers end‑to‑end services spanning drug development, manufacturing and packaging to support efficient progression from early development to commercial supply. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it operates 38 sites across seven countries, namely Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Spain, the UK and the US, and employs more than 7,500 people.
