Siegfried to build new API plant in China
pharmafile | July 10, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â AMP, API, Hanko, SiegfriedÂ
Swiss contract manufacturing organisation Siegfried has announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Nantong, near Shanghai in China.
The new plant will be built with the support of NETDA, a Chinese development organisation, and will initially focus on the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates when it comes online in 2014.
A second phase of investment is planned which could lead to the deployment of production lines for finished dosage forms, said the CMO.
The company said at an investors’ meeting recently that its aim was to achieve a presence in both established and emerging economies, with its Western operations focusing on the branded end of the pharmaceutical sector while units in low-cost regions such as Asia serving the burgeoning growth in the generic drug market.
Siegfried chief executive Dr Rudolf Hanko said the development of production capacity in China “will strengthen the company’s competitiveness and create additional sales opportunities in Asia”.
“The production facility will help us improve both our cost structure and our market access in Asia,” Hanko added.
Building a presence in Asia is one of the Siegfried’s key priorities for 2012 in terms of driving medium-term growth. After 2014 the company is expecting the current growth in the generic API sector – currently running at around twice that of branded generic APIs – to tail off.
The new construction project marks the second major round of investment for Siegfried in as many months, coming shortly after its acquisition of US CMO Alliance Medical Products (AMP).
Adding AMP into its stable gave the Swiss company a presence in sterile filling capabilities, in keeping with a strategy of expanding not only geographically but also in terms of its technology platforms as it expands into outsourced services adjacent to API manufacturing.
Siegfried has also invested in areas of manufacture which have a higher barrier to entry for low-cost producers, such as the production of high-potency APIs. It recently opened new facilities for high-potency compounds in Zofingen and Malta.
Phil Taylor
Related Content
World’s second largest API company to be created by Sanofi
Sanofi plans to create a new company in Europe dedicated to the production and marketing …
Teva recall heart drug after carcinogen found in API
Teva Pharmaceuticals has expanded its recall of losartan potassium tablets after detecting a possible carcinogen …
GSK opens £54m API plant in Montrose, Scotland
British multinational GlaxoSmithKline has opened an API manufacturing plant in Montrose Scotland for its Ellipta …
