CSL breaks ground on $1.5B expansion at Illinois biologics plant

The project will expand plasma-derived therapy production capacity and add at least 300 jobs at the company’s Kankakee manufacturing site.

March 10, 2026

2 min read

3D mockup of expanded CSL plasma-derived therapy manufacturing facility in Kankakee, Illinois

CSL broke ground on a $1.5 billion expansion of its plasma-derived therapy manufacturing facility in Kankakee, Illinois, part of the company’s strategy to expand biologics production capacity in the United States.

The project will increase manufacturing capacity for plasma-derived therapies and albumin while creating at least 300 new pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs and approximately 800 construction-related positions, according to the company. More than 1,200 employees currently work at the Kankakee site.

CSL said the expansion will incorporate its Horizon 2 manufacturing process, a patented technology designed to increase immunoglobulin yield from the same amount of collected plasma. The technology is intended to improve plasma efficiency and help meet growing global demand for plasma-derived medicines.

“As the need for plasma-derived therapies continues to grow in the U.S. and globally, expanding our Kankakee site further strengthens this key hub in our supply network,” CSL CEO Gordon Naylor said in a statement.

The expansion, expected to be operational by 2031, builds on more than $3 billion the company has invested in its U.S. operations since 2018. CSL first announced the $1.5 billion investment in November 2025 as part of a multi-year plan to expand domestic production of plasma-derived therapies and support the U.S. medicine supply chain.

Plasma-derived therapies are used to treat rare diseases, including hemophilia, primary immunodeficiency, and hereditary angioedema, as well as emergency conditions such as trauma, burns, and postpartum hemorrhage.

The Kankakee project follows other recent manufacturing investments by CSL. In December 2025, the company’s influenza vaccine business, CSL Seqirus, opened a $1 billion cell-based influenza vaccine and antivenom manufacturing facility in Melbourne, Australia. The site transitioned production from an egg-based vaccine facility and is designed to support seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing using cell-based processes.

This piece was created with the help of generative AI tools and edited by our content team for clarity and accuracy.