— Nexus Pharmaceuticals, a manufacturer of generic drugs and other products, aims to double its workforce in under a decade as it adds more production lines at its Pleasant Prairie facility.
The Illinois company first broke ground in 2019 on the $100 million project, which was the first greenfield generic drug production facility established in the United States in 30 years. That’s according to John Cook, the company’s vice president of manufacturing.
“Typically we’re pretty agnostic on the types of products we manufacture and market,” Cook said in a recent interview. “So we have products used mainly in cardiovascular areas, anti-spasmodics, some used during COVID — we have a product that’s basically an anesthetic that helps when they intubate people.”
Cook said the business targets product areas that frequently see drug shortages, in hopes of filling those gaps in the market. He noted at least 240 drugs are currently in short supply, based on FDA figures, with many of those falling under the hospital injectable market targeted by Nexus Pharmaceuticals.
In selecting the 16-acre site for its Pleasant Prairie operations — where about 85 members of its 200-person workforce are located — company leaders wanted to leave space for further expansion, Cook explained.
“We have a site master plan right now that will allow us to add four more filling lines on this site, which is something that we’re really looking forward to in the future from a growth perspective,” he said.
That meant designing and building a facility that could allow for adding more domestic capacity without disrupting ongoing production, he said. At the time, many other companies were building generic production sites overseas in places like India and China, Cook said.
The company earlier this month received a nod from the Facility of the Year Award program for this effort, which is dubbed Project Tomorrow. Cook said getting that national recognition at the award ceremony in Las Vegas was an invaluable experience for the business.
“Some of the rationale of what we were trying to do, what we were trying to accomplish from the perspective of trying to bring domestic manufacturing back to the states, I think it rang well with the judges,” he said.
Nexus currently has one vial-filling line at the site that can process up to 300 vials per minute, Cook said. But the company last week was installing a second line in Pleasant Prairie, with plans to submit related filings to the FDA this year. Future additions could include oncology products such as chemotherapy drugs as well as vaccination products, according to Cook.
As these and other expansions occur in the coming years, the business expects to have at least 400 employees in fewer than 10 years.
“Our goal here at Nexus is to address that need out there for drug shortage products that are critical,” Cook said. “A lot of these products are very, very low-margin … that’s one of the reasons they’re on drug shortage.”
That includes “basic” products for hospitals such as potassium chloride, sterile water — “things that are used in hospitals on a daily basis,” Cook said.
“We just want to make sure that we’re fulfilling that need for the country here, first and foremost, and the state of Wisconsin,” he said. “And we’ll continue to do that. We’re continuing to push for domestic manufacturing, so that we don’t run into supply chain issues and things of that nature.”
See more on the Pleasant Prairie site here: https://www.nexuspharma.net/our-facility
— Marquette University’s nursing school has announced plans to incorporate Epic’s electronic health records software into its curriculum, making it the first in the country to do so.
Students at the Milwaukee university’s College of Nursing this semester are using the company’s Lyceum platform, which is an educational version of Epic’s platform.
The Madison company’s electronic health records system is widely used in the health care field, and the university notes most nursing students will encounter it during clinical rotations. Seth Howard, senior vice president of research and development for Epic, said the company created Lyceum to “simplify access to the EHR experience” for future health care professionals.
“Epic is excited to play a part in nursing education, and we have enjoyed working with Marquette as the first nursing school collaborator,” Howard said in a statement.
The university notes students previously could only use certain parts of the Epic system while in the hospital and couldn’t access the full software before passing nurse licensure exams.
“Being able to offer our students experience on industry-standard software from a leading health technology company is a game-changer for our college,” College of Nursing Dean Dr. Jill Guttormson said. “We pride ourselves on producing nurses who are well-prepared for practice. Skilled, ethical use of medical records is a major part of that.”
While the college is the first nursing school to use Lyceum, according to the release, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine was the first medical school to adopt it. The Ohio university earlier this month announced students had begun using the platform this summer.
See the Case Western announcement: https://thedaily.case.edu/case-western-reserve-university-collaborates-with-epic-on-new-lyceum-platform-to-introduce-medical-students-to-electronic-health-records/
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— A Madison-based startup called EnsoData has announced a partnership with React Health, which manufactures devices for sleep and respiratory care.
The Florida company will be integrating EnsoData’s AI software model into its recently launched React Health Connect platform, according to a release. Doctors can use the platform as they support patients struggling with adhering to therapy plans.
EnsoData Chief Research Officer Chris Fernandez says the AI model “has an incredible ability to predict compliance” within days of the treatment starting.
“We are excited about the transformative impact our technology can have on the multitude of patients who face challenges in treating their sleep apnea,” Fernandez said.
See more at Madison Startups: https://www.madisonstartups.com/ensodata-react-health-to-partner/
— Generac Power Systems expects to receive $50 million in federal funding over the next five years after being selected for grant negotiations by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Waukesha-based manufacturer of energy technologies on Friday announced it had been chosen to work on a power grid improvement project for low-income homeowners in Massachusetts.
“The grant is subject to final negotiations of the project agreement with the DOE and our partners (within the next 120 days) and is anticipated to be a five-year program totaling $50 Million,” Generac Senior Vice President of Policy and Market Development Anne Hoskins said in an emailed statement.
The federal grant would be used to install Generac home energy products, including connected thermostats and batteries, as well as optimizing the use of electric heat pumps along with those products to improve energy reliability, according to the release.
Generac says it expects the first batteries to be deployed starting late next year or in early 2025.
The U.S. DOE grant comes from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
See the release:
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