In Mount Vernon, Indiana, biopharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca has a reach extending far outside the Tri-State. One of AstraZenecaโs 28 plants worldwide, the Mount Vernon site is the companyโs largest in the U.S. that makes medicinal tablets โ about 5.8 billion each year.
A significant chunk of that production belongs to Farxiga. Initially developed as medicine for type 2 diabetes, daily-dose tablets of Farxiga have expanded into treating heart and chronic kidney disease.
โWe keep finding more and more uses for this medicine. Thatโs why you see the continued increase in volume for Farxiga,โ says Formulation Engineering Director Ryan McCann.
Of the approximately nine billion tablets of Farxiga that AstraZeneca produces,
about half come from the Mount Vernon plant. Farxiga production started in 2012 at what then was a Bristol Myers Squibb plant. When AstraZeneca acquired the company in 2016, 500 million tablets were coming off the line. Now, the Posey County site is slated to generate 4.4 billion tablets of Farxiga in 2025. Thereโs certainly demand: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 38 million Americans have diabetes.
โWe make on average 370 million a month based on demand and distribution,โ says McCann, a Michigan native who has worked at the Southwestern Indiana plant since 2012. โSomeoneโs working on Farxiga probably six days a week.โ
McCann notes that Farxiga has made the Mount Vernon site stand out in more ways than one. Production increased by 1 billion each year from 2019 to 2022.
The tablets produced here are distributed in more than 65 global markets. McCann
reports the U.S. is the largest market by volume, with Brazil, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom rounding out the top 5. Distribution of Mount Vernon-produced tablets extends to Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Kazakhstan. Sister sites in Asia, South America, and Europe also package the tablets for other global markets.
โAt the end of the day, our job is to make the best product the right way every single time. We always keep the patient first in our minds,โ McCann says. โIt really is a joy in my life that my work impacts peopleโs lives for the better. Itโs really cool to have this investment in pharmaceuticals in Southwestern Indiana.โ
AstraZeneca
BY THE NUMBERS
4.4 billion Farxiga tablets projected to be made in Mount Vernon in 2025
9 billion Farxiga tablets produced by AstraZeneca plants worldwide in 2024
400-550 Mount Vernon employees directly involved in manufacturing Farxiga
8 Kinds of medicine manufactured by the Mount Vernon operations site
5.8 billion Tablets of medicine the Mount Vernon location is slated to produce in 2025
89,000 People employed globally by AstraZeneca
800 Employees at the Mount Vernon plant
