Catalent to buy Aptuit and claim number two spot in clinical supply
pharmafile | August 30, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Aptuit, Catalent, manufacturing and production newsÂ
Catalent Pharma Solutions has agreed to purchase the clinical trial supply business of Aptuit in a $410 million deal which boosts its capacity and expertise in development and clinical manufacturing.
The agreement is another example of consolidation in the outsourcing sector, as companies strive to achieve the scale required to negotiate wide-ranging, strategic-level agreements with top pharmaceutical companies.
“This transaction builds important expertise, scale and capability for our development & clinical services business to better meet our customers’ needs globally,” said John Chiminski, Catalent’s president and chief executive. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
Catalent reorganised its clinical operations two years ago by combining its analytical science, regulatory affairs and clinical supply divisions into one single business unit, operating out of sites in the US, UK and Germany. Aptuit will transfer round 900 employees to Catalent along with six facilities in the US, UK and Singapore.
Adding Aptuit’s clinical supply business will elevate Catalent to the number two position in the global sector, with a focus on clinical supply services, analytical chemistry, respiratory product development, regulatory consulting and cell-line development for biologics.
Aptuit’s clinical supply business could lead to a 25% increase in Catalent’s annual revenues, which came in at $1.7 billion in fiscal 2010, according to local news reports. At the moment the development & clinical services division accounts for around 9% of Catalent’s total sales but is second only to its core drug delivery technologies business in terms of profitability.
Earlier this month, Chiminski told the Goldman Sachs Leveraged Financial Healthcare conference that Catalent expects to boost sales at the development & clinical services division from $163 million in fiscal 2010 to almost $300 million by 2014.
After closure of the acquisition, which is expected later this year, Aptuit will focus on its drug discovery and early- to mid-phase development services. These were bolstered last year when the company took over GlaxoSmithKline’s neurosciences research facility in Verona, Italy.
Phil Taylor
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