Corning and SGD Pharma inaugurate glass tubing facility in Telangana

According to news reports, Corning is investing USD 60-million (around INR 500-crore) in new pharmaceutical glass manufacturing facilities on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Telangana. The project, being developed under the joint venture SGD Corning Technologies at Vemula in Mahbubnagar, includes both Velocity vials and pharma glass tubing production.

Once operational, the site is expected to become Corning’s single largest facility globally for vials and tubing. Gina He, business director, Corning Pharmaceutical Packaging was quoted saying that this would operate as the "only site for us to be producing both glass tubing and vials." 

According to the reports, the Velocity vials unit has recently commenced production, with commercial volumes expected in the second quarter of this year, while tubing production is scheduled for the first half of 2025. 

This will be Corning’s fourth glass tubing facility worldwide after the US, Italy and China, and its third Velocity vials plant after the US and Germany.

The investment is part of Corning’s global expansion in pharmaceutical packaging. In 2020 and 2021, the company invested USD 500-million to increase capacity worldwide, driven by demand during the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, shipping about eight billion doses globally.