Insulet (NSDQ:PODD) broke ground at its new manufacturing facility in Acton, Mass. yesterday, hosting a ceremony that featured the state’s governor, Charlie Baker, members of Baker’s administration and a young “Podder” named Lexi Bentinganan.
Diagnosed at age 7 with Type I diabetes, Lexi has been using Insulet’s tubeless insulin delivery device, the Omnipod, since 2013.
“It has given me complete control over my diabetes and reminded me that I’m just a normal kid,” she told the crowd of people gathered at Insulet’s 26-acre site.
The Omnipod device is currently manufactured overseas, chairman & CEO Patrick Sullivan said. The 300,000 square-foot site will help Insulet support 200,000 additional Omnipod users, according to the chief executive.
“There are many key decisions to be made in building a great and last enterprise. Few of those decisions are bigger and have higher stakes than choosing where to invest to build your company’s future,” Sullivan said. “After considering locations from coast-to-coast, we decided to bet big on the future of manufacturing in Massachusetts.”
The new firm will bring more than 1,000 jobs to Acton and result in a $100 million investment to the town over the next few years, he added. The facility is slated to include multiple new manufacturing lines and an innovation center.
“The statement this makes about the commonwealth is an important one,” Baker said. “It says, yet again, that this is a state that deserves its ranking as the number one place to live and raise a family…that this is, in fact, the number one innovation state in the country, according to Bloomberg News, and that this is, in fact, a truly wonderful place to start and build a technology company and a healthcare organization.”
“Today Omnipod helps a person get more discrete, more precise delivery of insulin,” president & COO Shacey Petrovic added. “Tomorrow, Omnipod will do this and so much more.”
