CDMO Hovione used CPhI Worldwide 2021 in Milan to announce plans to invest $170 million over the years 2020-2022 to expand both capacities and capabilities at three sites in Portugal, Ireland, and New Jersey. About 300 jobs will be created as a result. These reflect its increasing focus on spray drying, high potency and particle engineering.
Flamma USA, the North American arm of the Italian CDMO, has completed the re-commissioning of the HPAPI suite at its site at Malvern, Pennsylvania, following an “exhaustive qualification” over the past six months. This is meant to be a viable alternative for customers early stage HPAPIs when lead times are long for others.
At CPhI Worldwide 2021 in Milan on 9-11 November, Italian CDMO Olon announced “a significant expansion of its pipeline of APIs, a result of its R&D investment strategy”. In all, it has added nine new active substances for the generics market by investing across several lines and at multiple facilities in its network.
Indian chlor-alkali producer Meghmani Finechem is to spend €21.6 million to expand into the chlorotoluene value chain at its site in Dahej, Gujarat. Due to be commissioned by Q4 2024, this will be the first plant in India to be back-integrated into toluene chlorination, and will produce pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates.
AGC is to expand the production lines of its AGC Wakasa Chemicals subsidiary at the Kaminaka plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture. The amount involved was not disclosed but the expansion, due to start operation in Q1 2024, will increase AGC Wakasa Chemicals’ manufacturing capacity by 50%, with more potentially to come.
Merck KGaA’s Life Science business sector has launched ChetoSensar, a technology that improves the solubility of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Over 20% of ADC candidates are terminated in clinical trials because of poor solubility. The company said that this supports it efforts to double its ADC and HPAPI capacity in the near future.
In partnership with Aguettant Pharmarmaceutical, Italy’s Olon Group is to expand and renovate its plant in Mulazzano, which is dedicated to the production by enzymatic transformation. It will install reactors, filters and ancillary equipment, as well as automating and digitalising some steps performed there.
