Alexion Covers Biomanufacturing Bets with Production Start at New Rhode Island Plant

SUGAR LAND--August 25, 2010--Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) (Cheshire, Connecticut) can breathe a small sigh of relief as the company's new manufacturing plant in Smithfield, Rhode Island, has received coveted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Rather than repeat the Genzyme debacle following that company's problems with its Allston, Massachusetts, plant, Alexion wanted to ensure it would not be caught with only a single-source production point for commercial supply of its first product, Soliris (eculizumab).