Agreement is the first of its kind under Defense Production Act Title III
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today announced the first Defense Product Act (DPA) Title III agreement to expand U.S. capacity for using X-ray technology to sterilize medical devices and pharmaceutical products. Under the agreement, ASPR’s Office of Industrial Base Management and Supply Chain (IBMSC) will provide $12 million to Meissner to build a 70,000 square foot X-ray sterilization facility in the United States.
“The award we are announcing today makes the U.S. public health supply chain more secure, reduces reliance on foreign sources, and brings long-term, high paying jobs to the region,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell. “We’re focusing on infrastructure that can be sustained through the commercial market for years to come.”
Sterilization is a critical step in safely manufacturing medical or pharmaceutical products. The most common method of sterilization used to support manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics is called gamma sterilization and uses radioactive Cobalt-60 produced from Cobalt-59 mined primarily in Russia and China.
By comparison, X-ray technology is faster and more flexible with similar penetration to gamma sterilization. X-ray sterilization can be easier to use on certain types of plastics and is more environmentally friendly than Cobalt-60. X-ray sterilization also meets international standards for medical and pharmaceutical sterilization.
The ASPR IBMSC
DPA Title III program targets investments that create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore domestic industrial base capabilities that are critical to preparing for, responding to, and recovering from both current and future public health emergencies.
Meissner’s X-ray sterilization facility is expected to open in late 2026. The facility will be available for use by U.S. government partners that manufacture medical devices and pharmaceutical products during public health emergencies with minimal impacts to Meissner’s existing suppliers and customers and to the broader domestic public health supply chain. The facility will be sustained by filling the ongoing need for medical and pharmaceutical sterilization.
The award was made with funding from ASPR’s Office of Industrial Base Management and Supply Chain through ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium (BioMaP), managed by Advanced Technologies International.
