Manufacturing news in brief
pharmafile | August 19, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â API, Alpha Packaging, Phil Taylor, manufacturingÂ
Alpha Packaging says it plans to spend $3.5 million on new machines, moulds and downstream equipment in the first phase of a plan to make high-density polyethylene (HDPE) packaging for pharmaceutical and nutritional companies. The expansion is taking place at Alpha’s plant Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and is due to complete later this year. Alpha Packaging is also planning to spend ‘double or triple’ that investment next year as later phases get underway.
Jubilant HollisterStier says it has completed the first phase of expansion at its Montreal facility, adding to its sterile manufacturing capacity with a new ampoule filling line utilising a rigid barrier system. The new investment will expand ampoule manufacturing capacity by almost 200%, said the company. The new area is scheduled to be ready for product on 9 September.
India’s Aurobindo Pharma has agreed to buy a 60% stake in a $2.5 million manufacturing facility for hormonal and cancer drugs currently being built by Celon Labs, according to a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Meanwhile it is increasing its share of antibiotic manufacturer Silicon Life Sciences from 18% to 75 per cent. The deals continue Aurobindo’s ongoing diversification from an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) producer to a manufacturer of finished dose formulations.
Johnson Matthey Catalysis and Chiral Technologies (JMCCT) is expanding its speciality ligand manufacturing operations, which make Buchwald catalysts that in turn are employed in pharmaceutical and speciality chemical synthesis. The catalysts are generally offered at a research scale for use in the laboratory, but JMCCT is now providing commercial-scale manufacturing up to 100kg.
Russia’s Akrikhin has expanded its collaboration with Merck Sharpe & Dohme for the production of products sold on the domestic market. Akrikhin will now make 11 MSD products in Russia, having first agreed to make six of the big pharma company’s brands in 2012. The new additions to the contract are: Januvia (sitagliptin) and Janumet (sitagliptin plus metformin) for diabetes; asthma drug Singulair (montelukast); antifungal Noxafil (posaconazole); and cholesterol drug Ezetrol (ezetimibe).
Vindon Scientific of the UK has expanded in the US with the opening of a new facility in Santa Fe, California, that will provide stability storage for temperature- and humidity-sensitive pharmaceuticals as well as a pharmaceutical testing and analysis. The company claims the new unit is the largest pharmaceutical and biostorage facility in California.
Phil Taylor
Related Content
CARBOGEN AMCIS manufacturing license advances services in China
Swiss pharma manufacturing company, CARBOGEN AMCIS, has announced that its facility in Shanghai, China, has …
Meribel Pharma Solutions launches to take pharma services to new heights
Meribel Pharma Solutions, a new mid-sized contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has officially launched …
Bend Bioscience adds commercial spray drying facility to Georgia site
Bend Bioscience has announced the addition of a commercial-scale spray dryer and a Gerteis dry …
