Animal health company in Elwood announces expansion plans

By Ashley Luthans

Elanco, an animal pharmaceutical company, will invest $130 million to expand its Elwood, Kansas, facility and improve manufacturing capabilities.

Elanco officials explained in a press conference Tuesday how the investments will support the company’s innovation efforts and create 70 jobs in the area.

Grace McArdle, the executive vice president of manufacturing and quality for Elanco, said that the investments will be used to expand the facility.

“We’re investing $130 million over the next two years in a 25,000-square-foot expansion of our monoclonal antibody manufacturing facility here in Elwood,” McArdle said. “So we’re expanding the manufacturing area, we’re adding a pilot plant so that we can partner really closely with research and development to bring innovation faster to our customers.”

McArdle went on to explain the importance of expanding in Elwood.

“In the last three years, this team here at Elwood, partnering with our research and development colleagues, have managed to bring it from development through to having a commercially available solution for parvovirus,” McArdle said. “And we want to now continue to build out this critical platform for us in monoclonal antibodies, and that’s what this facility expansion will enable us to do.”

The Elwood site was acquired by Elanco in 2021. There are currently 80 employees at the facility.

The Elwood facility focuses on manufacturing and shipping a canine parvovirus monoclonal antibody, which helps target and treat parvovirus in dogs.