Roche, which has been trying for two years to offload four small-molecule manufacturing plants around the world, will sell one in Spain to Recipharm in a deal that will save another 200 jobs.
As part of the arrangement to take over the plant in Leganés, Spain near Madrid, the Swedish CDMO has won a long-term manufacturing agreement to supply Roche with a number of solid dose products, a provision the Swiss drugmaker has used to find buyers for two other plants.
No financial terms were offered, but Recipharm said the plant will add €35 million (about $42 million) annually to its revenues. The CDMO, which agreed to keep 200 workers at the facility, said it will be able to coordinate work with a plant it already has in Parets near Barcelona, and the deal will allow it to realize “optimization opportunities” with Recipharm’s solids manufacturing network.
This is the third of four plants that Roche has sold since announcing in November 2015 that it would close facilities and eliminate 1,200 jobs in cost-cutting measures, even as it shifted more production toward manufacturing targeted drugs. Roche also has found buyers for plants in the U.S. and Segrate, Italy. Only a facility in Clarecastle, Ireland has been shuttered after a buyer couldn’t be found.
When the company announced it was changing the trajectory of its manufacturing investments, Roche said it would spend about $300 million to build a new plant to manufacture targeted, high-potency small-molecule drugs at its massive site in Kaiseraugst near its Basel, Switzerland where it has about 10,400 employees.
Last year, Patheon took over an API plant in Florence, South Carolina, again saving 200 jobs and winning a supply agreement from Roche.
Earlier this month, Roche said it had completed the sale of a solid and liquid formulation facility in Segrate, to French CMO Delpharm, which also reached a deal to supply the Swiss pharma giant with products produced at the plant and agreed to keep an unspecified number of jobs.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
Despite atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) being the leading cause of death for people with Type 2 diabetes, half of those people have no idea of this risk. Novo Nordisk has teamed up with the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association (PCNA) for “Making the Connection,” a program to help increase understanding of the link between the two diseases.
The first ever treatment for broken heart syndrome – also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy – is to be trialled by researchers at the University of Aberdeen. Scientists will trial a programme of exercise conditioning and psychological therapy for people who have been diagnosed with the condition following a £300,000 grant from the British Heart Foundation.
Nestlé Health Science is set to acquire The Better Health Company (TBHC), as part of its goals to grow global market share while spurring innovation across the nutrition industry. The acquisition includes the GO Healthy brand with its vitamins and supplements, Egmont, the Manuka honey brand and New Zealand Health Manufacturing, an Auckland-based manufacturing facility for vitamins minerals and supplements.