Drug makers can now register many small factories as one site

US health regulators are changing how drug manufacturing sites register. Companies can now register multiple small, connected factories as a single entity, and foreign sites must meet updated rules.

For decades, drug makers had to register each factory separately, making it costly to build many small production sites. This change lets companies register multiple connected sites as one, making distributed manufacturing cheaper and easier. It could lead to more resilient drug supply chains, allowing production closer to demand or faster scaling during crises.