Bradley, IL (CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS) – Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL announced Monday a major expansion at its Kankakee manufacturing facility, a move that will bring end-to-end plasma processing into the U.S.

CSL Behring, a subsidiary of CSL, said it will invest $1.5 billion into the site expansion by 2031, adding 300 new high-skilled jobs to its existing 1,200 full-time employees, as well as around 800 construction and related local jobs needed to support the expansion.

The company produces plasma therapies used in treating rare diseases and immunodeficiencies.

State Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, called the job growth “tremendous news” for the county, but also celebrated the new capacity for production of the company’s plasma therapies. 

“I can’t help but think back to 2023 when I stood just on the north end of this property at CSL when they opened their plasma donation center,” Joyce said. “We aren’t just celebrating jobs and buildings. The end result is more lives are improved through these therapies.”

Plasma is a key part of the blood, containing proteins necessary for fighting infection and helping blood clot properly. For people whose immune systems don’t function normally, plasma replacement therapy can provide antibodies that help their bodies fight infection. 

However, plasma cannot be synthesized like other manufactured pharmaceuticals; it must be collected from healthy donors, tested and purified through a complex and highly regulated process before it can be used to treat patients. 

Treating a single patient for a year can require plasma from hundreds or thousands of individual donations, according to CSL. Plasma therapy treatments are manufactured by building an isolated protein unique to an individual’s specific immune disorder.

That therapy can be lifechanging for patients who live in fear, according to Jorey Berry, president and CEO of the Immune Deficiency Foundation.

“Our community fears infection intensely every day and for the rest of their lives,” Berry said. “It is also often invisible, and that can make you feel alone, ignored and vulnerable.”

Plasma replacement therapy is “lifelong and life-saving,” Berry added. But shortages in those therapies can cause anxiety for people who rely on access to a consistent supply.

State incentives, local infrastructure

Gov. JB Pritzker credited the state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, tax credit program as an incentive for CSL’s continued investment in Illinois. 

The EDGE program has been administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity since 1999, with a significant overhaul in 2017. A new tier was added by the General Assembly in 2024 to attract large-scale projects.

Projects that qualify for EDGE credits receive tax credits for new hires and retained jobs, with extra savings for operating in underserved areas. The program also offers a credit for 10% on new employee training costs.

The CSL Behring plant in Kankakee has been in operation for seven years, during which time the company says it has invested $3 billion in its U.S. operations, including 300 plasma centers across the country.

Pritzker said the expansion had been in discussion for 2-3 years, with acceleration over the last 12 months. Those conversations included coordination between the company and local government to understand what infrastructure would be needed to support the expansion.

That included coordinating PACE bus options to transport employees from the train to the facility, working with Commonwealth Edison to accommodate energy needs, paving roads and updating stop lights to keep traffic flowing.

Those investments would generate a return on investment within 3-4 years and provide benefit to the broader community, not just the company, Pritzker said.

“You think about all the salaries and all the spending and all the people who move here and will buy a new home and be a part of the community, it makes a big difference in the economy of Kankakee County, as well as of the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “So, the benefits to us far outweigh the incentives that we provide for companies.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.