Wilhelm Stahl, head of marketing for pharmaceuticals and R&D at the unit, said at the CPhI Japan meeting ths week that Lanxess has been supplying its Japanese partners with custom intermediates for several years. However, Dr Stahl noted, "with the regulatory and legal changes coming into effect this April, we see in particular potential for further developing our business with the Japanese pharmaceutical industry."
He said the company has established collaborations and supply partnerships with Asian and European partners which "allow us to provide tailored services in custom manufacturing and to supply material covering a very broad range of possible demands ranging from a few kilograms to over 1,000 tons."
Japan's new Pharmaceutical Affairs law, which comes through in April, will for the first time allow Japanese companies to subcontract the complete manufacturing of their products. Previously, by law some elements of manufacturing had to be conducted in-house.
POCl3 boost
Meanwhile, Lanxess also said it has invested around €2 million in its Leverkusen unit for the manufacture of phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3), used to make pharmaceutical and crop protection active ingredients. A combination of plant modernisation and an improvement in the production process has made it possible to expand capacity.
Lanxess said demand for POCl3 has increased, making it necessary to debottleneck the existing unit in Leverkusen for oxidising phosphorus trichloride.