The enhancements are intended to improve global flexibility.
When Thermo Fisher Scientific announced on May 15th that it would acquire CDMO Patheon, Thermo Fisher’s President and CEO Marc Casper noted, "Patheon's development and manufacturing capabilities are an excellent complement to our industry-leading offering for the biopharma market.” Although the deal won’t likely close until the end of the year, Patheon confirmed its commitment to supporting its future owner’s central value proposition by announcing it will spend approximately $45 million to expand its manufacturing capabilities and fuel growth.
Citing flexibility gains, Patheon plans to integrate advanced manufacturing technologies at key sites within its global network. These investments, said Patheon, are intended to expand service capabilities and meet growing customer demand. Patheon President Michel Lagarde explained how crucial advancing their technical abilities is to staying competitive, saying, “As outsourcing of Pharma development and manufacturing services continues to grow, our customers will need even more advanced technologies and customized solutions to meet their business needs.”
Lagarde has also noted that Patheon’s customers are seeking to develop more effective, simplified supply chains that are flexible and cost efficient. “With our focus on people, process and capabilities,” said Lagarde, “Patheon is uniquely positioned to partner with pharma companies to achieve their objectives — cost effectively while delivering the highest quality.”
Patheon plans to invest in several key areas across its global network including adding commercial spray drying capabilities and new flexible manufacturing solutions. According to Patheon, spray drying is a “key technology utilized to enhance the solubility of poorly soluble drugs.” To that end, the company said it plans to add a new dedicated 15,000 sq. ft. dedicated suite to its Florence, South Carolina facility to deliver commercial-scale spray-dried dispersion (SDD) services to customers.
Investment at its Bend, Oregon site will have a similar theme. Patheon said it will expand current SDD capabilities adding and integrating a new manufacturing suite, additional “development-scale” spray-drying capability and a cGMP analytical lab. Patheon said the combined capabilities of the two facilities will provide customers an “end-to-end” solution and a resource to solve tough solubility problems.
In Europe, Patheon has invested in a new sterile facility in Monza, Italy featuring three 40 m2 lyophilizers and an integrated eight-headed filling line configurable to suit small and large molecule, liquid and lyophilized formulations across a range of vial sizes. Patheon said it also will upgrade its Pharmaceutical Development Services (PDS) at the Monza site, installing two 7 m2 lyophilizers to support customer development of small and large molecule therapeutics and “ease with the transition from clinical to commercialization.”
Patheon said its plans also call for expanding and improving packaging and serialization capabilities at its Greenville, North Carolina site. According to Patheon, investment there will include adding a new 4,800 sq. ft. filling and packaging suite featuring an Optel serialization system adding efficiency and reduced change-over times.