Pharma manufacturing news in brief
pharmafile | December 6, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â GSK, Hospira, PharmaS, UPS, Uquifa, VivimedÂ
India’s Vivimed buys Spanish API maker, Hospira tries to spend its way out of manufacturing woes, plus updates from PharmaS, UPS and GlaxoSmithKline.
India’s Vivimed Labs has acquired Spanish company Uquifa, a manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, for $55 million. Uquifa is the pharmaceutical division of UK-based Yule Catto and operates three manufacturing plants, two in Spain and one in Mexico. Vivmed said the acquisition would “bring strategic growth into its product mix and expand [its] footprint in Europe and the Americas”.
Hospira has said it plans to spend $375 million on upgrades to its manufacturing facilities that are designed to correct deficiencies and bring it back into compliance with GMP. A sizeable chunk of the money will be spent on Hospira’s Rocky Mount facility in North Carolina, which was the subject of warning letter from the US FDA last year. Despite the investment, Hospira’s share price has been in steep decline, leading to speculation it may become a takeover target.
PharmaS of Croatia has said it plans to invest €11 million in a new drug manufacturing plant in Zrenjanin, Serbia, according to a Bloomberg report. The company will use the new plant for the production of generic cardiovascular and gastrointestinal medications. It is scheduled to open in the middle of next year. This is the second new facility investment for the fast-growing company in recent months. In May, PharmaS opened a 6,400-sq. m. facility in Popovaca, Croatia, which represented an investment of 300 million kuna ($54m).
GlaxoSmithKline has completed a $7 million upgrade to two production lines at its Brasov plant in Romania, according to local news reports. The increased capacity will be devoted to the manufacture of GSK’s antidepressant Seroxat (paroxetine) and HIV treatment Retrovir (zidovudine). More than 40% of the Brasov plant’s output is exported. The drugmaker is also investing in new laboratory space at the facility which is due for completion next year.
Freight and logistics specialist UPS has continued a push into pharma with the acquisition of Italy’s Pieffe Group, which operates distribution facilities in Milan and Rome as well as storage and cold-chain services. The acquisition adds around 750,000 sq. ft. in warehousing space – including 12 cold storage areas – to UPS’s healthcare distribution capacity of of more than 4 million sq. ft. across 30 facilities worldwide.
Phil Taylor
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