Health Care | Biotech | Pharmaceuticals 2025: BOUWIEN SMITS

Smits joined Civica as head of its sterile injectable manufacturing facility in Petersburg in fall 2023. A group of U.S. hospitals and philanthropic organizations established Civica in 2018 to address chronic generic drug shortages, and the nonprofit is part of Petersburg’s pharmaceutical hub.
The Utah drugmaker received the occupancy permit for its $140 million, 140,000-square-foot Petersburg facility in late 2022. The facility isn’t manufacturing commercial drugs yet; Civica anticipates drugs from the facility will be available in 2026. The plant will produce three types of insulin, along with other drugs on the Food and Drug Administration’s shortages list. Civica currently has about 240 employees at the site but plans to hire approximately 300 for the facility.

Before joining Civica, Smits was Sage Therapeutics’ vice president of quality. Prior to that, she served as site quality head of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s Massachusetts biologics operations.

She has a master’s degree from Utrecht University’s medical school and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Civica expects to start building a roughly $25 million, 50,000-square-foot lab in Chesterfield County this year, with plans to hire about 50 employees for it.

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