B41 Milestones

  Date B41 Milestones
New Capability or Significant Enabling Investment
  1941-45 Upjohn expansion program deferred due to wartime activities
  1945 Portage Road location selected for B41 after survey of alternatives
  1946 Construction of B41 by The Austin Company begins
  1949 First move-in to B41
  1951 B41 fully occupied and operational
  1953 The era of steroid manufacturing begins in B41 with Cortef
  1955 First continuous filling/stoppering machine installed for Mix-O-Vial presentation (precursor of Act-O-Vial)
  1957 Mix-O-Vial brought to market 
  1970 20-year plan for the future of sterile manufacturing in B41 featuring minimum essential equipment located in controlled aseptic core
  1969 Freeze drying capability implemented in B41
  1971 First fully-automated filling line
  1974 First high-speed vial filling line (Line 09) operational, featuring microprosseor control and automated check-weighing
  1980 Biologic sterile-injectable manufacturing begins
  1983 First expansion of B41 added - B259 control facility
  1992 Significant freeze-drying expansion and update in B41
  1995 Upjohn merges with Swedish firm Pharmacia to form Pharmacia & Upjohn
  1995 Second expansion of B41 added - B392 microbiology lab addition
  2000 Pharmacia & Upjohn merges with Monsanto and Searle to create Pharmacia
  2003 Pfizer acquisition of Pharmacia
  2009 Aseptic Processing North facility approved and operational
  2010 First fully-automated inspection line (Line 09) featuring both vision and leak-detection capabilities
  2014 First serialized production lot released, demonstrating true track-and-trace capability
  2018 Warehouse moved from B41 to new B541 to make space for additional sterile-injectable manufacturing