Pharma manufacturing news in brief
pharmafile | September 12, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â pharma manufacturing newsÂ
DMV-Fonterra agrees to buy India’s Brahmar Cellulose, plus there are facility updates from Reliable and Toyoba, some bad press for China’s Harbin Pharma and an IPO for Indian CMO Brooks Labs.
Excipients specialist DMV-Fonterra has agreed to buy Indian ingredients supplier Brahmar Cellulose in a deal that will make it the “the sole manufacturer and supplier of the most commonly used diluents and superdisintegrants to the pharmaceutical industry”. Brahmar makes pharmaceutical-grade microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose (SCMC) at a facility based in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu state, and DMV-Fonterra said that adding this capacity would allow it to help its customers “reduce their supply chain and formulation costs by having a consistent, single source and single quality framework across their key products”. The Indian firm’s product range will be sold by DMV-Fonterra’s international sales network.
Reliable Biopharmaceutical Corp has boosted its manufacturing capacity for lactobionic acid (LBA) production by 50% thanks to an expansion of its facility in St. Louis, Missouri. LBA is used in the pharmaceutical industry as a salt form and to provide osmotic support during organ preservation to prevent cell swelling. The company said that the expansion was the first in several planned in order to boost its high-purity ingredients business.
Japanese contract manufacturing organisation Toyoba plans to increase production capacity for injectable drugs with a $15 million investment at a vial-filling plant in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. In addition to an additional production line to boost output, the CMO is also planning to install a new freeze-drying facility, with the overall aim of boosting its ability to handle contracts for producing biologic drugs.
A state-run pharmaceutical company in China has come under scrutiny after publishing palatial images of one of its facilities on its website. The pictures of the facility operated by Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Sixth Pharm Factory have been seized upon by journalists and local bloggers who claim they are an illustration of the profiteering of the Chinese drug industry. The company claims the pictures were of a woodblock printing art museum housed within its six-storey building, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Indian contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) company Brooks Laboratories has had a torrid start to public life after listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange, with its share price yo-yoing as investors opted to grab early profit. Brooks has said it plans to use the 63 crore rupees (around $13m) raised via the initial public offering (IPO) to build a manufacturing facility in Gujarat, as well as for general corporate expenses.
Phil Taylor
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