Hungary-headquartered Pliva has continued its rapid expansion with the opening of a new R&D facility in the USA that will carry out formulation work on generic pharmaceuticals.
The site, at East Hannover in New Jersey, is equipped with both analytical and development labs, which will allow Pliva to take a drug from its chemical entity identification through development, testing and production.
Pliva's recent growth has been impressive, with first-quarter sales up nearly 50 per cent to $271 million (€236m), driven by the acquisitions of Sidmark in the US and Spain's Edigen earlier in 2003. The company plans to expand its presence in the USA and Western Europe on the back of generic product launches, but stressed that it has the capabilities to develop its own branded drugs.
In terms of developing new chemical entities, Pliva is best known as the originator of azithromycin, the blockbuster macrolide antibiotic sold by Pfizer as Zithromax. The company is also developing a position as a provider of generic biopharmaceuticals.
Paul Cottone, chief executive of Pliva's US subsidiary, said: "The strength of our pipeline coupled with the capabilities of this and our other sites promises great advances in speciality products and will enable us to expand the availability of our generic products."