Schering-Plough opens Dutch injectables facility
pharmafile | June 12, 2009 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Europe, NetherlandsÂ
Schering-Plough has opened a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Oss, the Netherlands, to help meet demand for the drugmakers' injectable drugs and hormonal products and boost its capacity to make biologics.
The addition of the new site makes Oss the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing centre in the Netherlands, said the company at the unveiling event earlier this week attended by Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Maria van der Hoeven.
The new 16,500 sq.m. factory has three separate production lines and was built on ground adjacent to the main production facilities of Organon, which was acquired by Schering-Plough for 11 billion euros in November 2007. It cost 75 million euros to construct and will employ between 80 and 100 staff.
The new Oss plant will initially be used to manufacture injectable drugs such as muscle relaxants Esmeron/Zemuron (rocuronium bromide) and Norcuron (vecuronium bromide) and their reversal agent Bridion (sugammadex).
It also has a dedicated production line for NuvaRing (etonogestrel/ethinyl estradiol), Schering-Plough's fast-growing contraceptive device which brought in sales of $115 million in the first quarter of this year, as well as other hormone-based treatments.
The high-tech plant is designed very much in keeping with the current trends in pharmaceutical manufacturing – lean, flexible facilities that can be used to make a range of products with minimal risk of cross-contamination between production lines and from operators.
It makes extensive use of automation in cleanroom areas and the freeze-drying suite, and boasts closed systems for air and water supply and purification, as well as its own dedicated water treatment plant.
Around 25% of the plant's manufacturing capacity has been earmarked for use by BioConnection, an innovative company designed to help smaller biotechnology companies make batches of their pipeline products for use in trials, as well as large-scale commercial production and other activities such as formulation development.
BioConnection was set up in 2005 as a collaborative venture between the Dutch government and Organon's former parent Akzo Nobel.
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