Governor Shapiro cuts ribbon on SCHOTT Pharma expansion

SCHOTT Pharma held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning for its new production lines, supported by $60 million in funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro participated in the ceremony and spoke on the project at the ceremony, held on SCHOTT Pharma’s campus at 30 Lebanon Valley Parkway.

The new production lines allow manufacturing of both standard and sterile ready-to-use glass vials, an expansion that triples SCHOTT’s manufacturing capacity for vials in the United States. The Lebanon location is one of two SCHOTT Pharma locations globally that can manufacture EVERIC pure vials with “high chemical durability, a homogeneous inner surface, and tight dimensional tolerances to ensure high drug stability throughout its shelf life,” said a SCHOTT Pharma press release.

“SCHOTT could have chosen anywhere in the world to do this work, but they chose the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and we are grateful for that choice,” said Shapiro, later referencing the $100 million Innovate in PA 2.0 item designed for investment in life sciences in the pending 2026-27 budget. “Hopefully your representatives and others from both sides of the aisle will support this when we finalize our budget later this month.”

The governor described Pennsylvania’s efforts to encourage economic development as including bipartisan efforts to invest in development and lower taxes, reforming and speeding up permitting processes, and develop a comprehensive plan focusing specifically on life sciences. This year, he said, Pennsylvania revenues in the first quarter surpassed projections by over a billion dollars due to economic growth.

“Pennsylvania is a leader in life sciences and we’ve got a governor and an administration who are here, willing ready and able to support your growth,” said Shapiro. “Momentum is building across the commonwealth when it comes to life sciences. … We are competing again and we are winning big deals and we are enticing great companies like SCHOTT to plant an even bigger flag here in Pennsylvania.”

SCHOTT is a global company specializing in glass products based in Germany. SCHOTT Pharma, which produces medical products such as vials, syringes, and cartridges in 17 facilities worldwide, has one U.S. manufacturing site in South Lebanon Township. Materials distributed to press noted that injections from SCHOTT Pharma vials are given more than 30,000 times per minute, with 13 billion products distributed per year.

“SCHOTT Pharma is obviously a global leader in manufacturing, and specialized medical packaging,” said Shapiro. “Their patented glass is durable enough to withstand extreme temperatures and conditions. … And I’m proud of the fact that, since 2003, you’ve used that specially manufactured glass, manufactured right here in Lebanon County, to produce medical vials for hundreds of different pharmaceutical companies across the globe that are used to store and protect everything from vaccines to life-saving cancer treatment.”

Shapiro’s said that he met with SCHOTT Pharma USA president Christopher Cassidy and state Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger at an NFL game around two months ago to discuss the expansion.

Cassidy said that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the importance of resilient supply chains, which was the primary motivation for the expansion project.

“The expansion of this facility was a project conceived during extraordinary circumstances: the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Cassidy. “While that challenging period is now well behind us, it left us with an important lesson: resilient supply chains and the ability to respond quickly are critical to saving lives. The pandemic also showed us what once seemed impossible can become possible when governments, the private sector, the healthcare industry, and communities come together with a shared sense of urgency and responsibility.

“This site stands as a powerful testament to the collaboration over the past three years, and I’d like to thank BARDA and the US government for their support.”

Dr. Gary Disbrow, deputy assistant secretary director of BARDA, expressed his thanks that the project came in within budget and on time. Also referencing COVID-19 and former wait times of up to two years for custom vials, Disbrow said the project “reduces the likelihood that Americans will go without the critical supplies that are needed in times of crisis.”

“The expansion of this facility marks an important step forward in strengthening our national health security and supply chain resilience,” said Disbrow. “This collaboration is setting the standard for what the future of American medical manufacturing can and should look like.”

Other public figures in attendance Wednesday included Madison Colaco of U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser’s office, Logan Hoover of U.S. Senator Dave McCormick’s office, state Rep. John Schlegel, and Lebanon County Commissioners Jo Ellen Litz and Michael Kuhn.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, attendees could tour the manufacturing facility, where employees oversee mostly automated machines that take glass from imported rods to custom-shaped products, scanning for quality along the way.