Keene medical device facility’s parent company wins big vaccine-related contract

A medical device manufacturing company has won a federal contract to produce more than 78 million syringe-and-needle units that will mean a major expansion of the firm’s facility in Keene.

Smiths Medical, which is based in Plymouth, Minn., said it has entered into an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense.

The deal involves a $20 million investment by the federal government to expand production of Smiths’ integrated hypodermic needle and syringe products at the Keene facility. The investment represents almost half the cost of Smiths’ planned $38 million capital expansion project in Keene.

Smiths said the deal will increase its needle production capacity by 125 million units per year. The federal government will have priority access to the expanded capacity for vaccination efforts dedicated to Covid-19, flu vaccines and future pandemics.

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