FDA Approves Facility for Making Orencia

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the company’s biologics manufacturing facility in Devens, Mass., for commercial production of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Orencia (abatacept).

BMS said it manufactures its biologic medicines in a company-owned facility in Syracuse, N.Y., and finishes and packages them in a facility in Puerto Rico.

The Syracuse site will remain a key component of the company’s biologics strategy and will serve as a center of excellence in process development and early product launch for the company’s biologic medicines, the New York-based company said. In July 2011, FDA approved a new ...