Pharma manufacturing: news in brief
pharmafile | May 6, 2009 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Pfizer
Pharmafocus presents a round-up of developments in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, including Pfizer's increased adoption of contract manufacturing and facility news from Wyeth, Abbott, Acceleron, Fresenius Kabi and Althea Technologies.
– As a result of Pfizer's ongoing efforts to boost its use of contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs), nearly a quarter (24%) of its production is currently carried out by external contractors, up from 17% in 2008. The move is part of the company's cost-cutting exercise, which achieved $330 million in cost reductions in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago.
– Wyeth is planning to expand manufacturing capacity for its nutritional product lines, such as infant formula, with investments at its manufacturing facilities in the Philippines and Singapore, as well as the construction of a brand new plant in China. The aim is to boost manufacturing capacity for infant nutritional products by 60% to 70% over the next few years.
– With the contract manufacturing sector benefitting from pharma's cost-cutting measures, one US CMO – Althea Technologies – has opened a newly-constructed commercial-scale biologics manufacturing facility in San Diego. The 30,000 sq. ft. unit cost $15 million to construct and is designed for the sterile production of protein-based drugs, DNA therapeutics and vaccines.
– US biotechnology firm Acceleron has bucked the trend set by most of its peers in the sector and announced it will increase staffing by more than 50% this year "to support the continuing growth of its R&D and manufacturing activities", including the opening of its second GMP protein manufacturing facility. Acceleron also said it has boosted facility space by a quarter and had opened a third (20,000 sq. ft.) laboratory on its main site in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
– Abbott Laboratories is setting up a new 2,000-sq. ft. research unit at the University of Illinois Research Park in the USA which will work on projects relating to pharmaceutical manufacturing quality and human nutrition. The unit is expected to start operations in July.
– In the US, APP Pharmaceuticals has taken over a facility in Schaumburg, Illinois, formerly operated by Astellas for the manufacture of ointment products, and has hired 50 of the prior owner's staff, according to local press reports. APP was acquired by Germany's Fresenius Kabi Pharmaceuticals in September 2008 as part of the latter's move into the North American injectable generics market.
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