While Big Pharma companies have equivocated about whether to pull drug production from the U.K. because of Brexit, CDMO Almac quickly went out and did something about it. It obtained a site in the EU and is now investing about $30 million on upgrades.
Based in Northern Ireland—part of the U.K.—Almac has secured a site 40 minutes away in Dundalk, Ireland, part of the EU. It says EU regulators have recently inspected the site for clinical trial and commercial production.
It now intends to invest £30 million ($41.6 million) to add a quality-control laboratory, commercial drug packaging facility and a 79,000-square-foot EU distribution center for clinical trial supply. It said the expansion will more than triple the manufacturing footprint at the European campus, which it says is slated to be operating by January 2019.
“The announcement today of further expansion will ensure our current and future clients receive a seamless solution with access to the EU marketplace,” Almac CEO Alan Armstrong said in a statement. “Crucially, this will ensure an uninterrupted service provision through any uncertainty Brexit may bring.”
Drugmakers in the EU have been warning of drug supply chaos if the U.K. and European Commission can’t strike a specific deal covering the approval of medicines before their governmental divorce. About 45 million packages of drugs move from the U.K. to the EU each year and 37 million in the other direction, a European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations survey found.
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, the U.K.’s largest and second-largest drugmakers, have urged the two sides to make sure the pharma issues get resolved ahead of the split but are making contingency plans just in case. AZ’s Pascal Soriot, for example, declared a hiatus on any significant manufacturing investments in the country until there is more light around what the split will mean for pharma.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
CordenPharma announced its largest strategic investment to date, committing to spend ~€900m over the next three years to enhance its peptide technology platform. The planned investment consists of two major expansion initiatives occurring in parallel in the US and Europe, including both existing facilities and new constructions.
DSM-Firmenich has announced the sale of its MEG-3 fish oil business to KD Pharma Group, a contract development and manufacturing organisation that is active in pharmaceutical and nutritional lipids. As part of the transaction, DSM-Firmenich will obtain a minority stake of 29% in KD Pharma’s parent company O³ Holding GmbH.
Veranova, a development and manufacturing of specialist and complex APIs for the pharmaceutica l and biotech sectors, recently announced the appointment of Cécile Maupas as Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer. Cécile will join the executive team and assume responsibility for business development, marketing, project management, commercial operations, and product management.
