No cuts at DPT Labs says new owner Renaissance Pharma

08-Jul-2012 - Last updated on 06-Sep-2012 at 10:01 GMT

No job losses, facility divestitures or strategic changes are planned at DPT Laboratories according to new owner Renaissance Pharma, which bought the CDMO in an out-of-the-blue deal last week.

The takeover – terms of which were not disclosed – sees Renaissance and private equity owner Roundtable Healthcare Partners take charge of the Texas-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) further expanding its presence in the contract manufacturing space.

Paul Dorman, CEO of former DPT owner DFB Pharmaceuticals, told Outsourcing-pharma.com that: “We were not planning the sale of DPT when we started discussions with Roundtable relative to opportunities” adding that DPT shareholders retained an equity interest in the new company.

DPT’s capabilities in sterile and non-sterile products – as well as the soon to be added small volume parenteral drug manufacturing capability – were the key motivations for the deal from Renaissance’s perspective according to CEO Pierre Frechette.

He told us that: “When we review investment opportunities, we look for outstanding companies that deliver a value-added proposition, with strong management teams and excellent reputations in the market in which they compete. DPT met those criteria.

“In addition, we believe the market demand for those specialized capabilities will increase in terms of volume and value and they will grow at a higher rate than the average pharmaceutical CDMO growth rate” he said, citing Big Pharma consolidation and industry demand for secondary sources of supply as key.

Frechette went on to say that DPT’s centers of excellence strategy – whereby different manufacturing operations are carried out at different specialist sites rather than under one roof – will continue under Renaissance’s ownership and even be applied to the firm’s other CMO business, Confab Laboratories.

“We will implement a similar approach for our investment in Confab that focuses on complex solid doses and smaller batch sizes of semi-solids and liquids" he said.

He also confirmed that no layoffs or facility were expected at DPT and predicted that the acquisition will “provide steady job opportunities.”

This was reiterated by Paul Josephs, Senior VP of corporate development, who told this publication that: “No layoffs or facility divestitures are planned” adding that the firm had seen strong demand for its businesses in San Antonio and Lakewood, New Jersey.

“We have an excellent pipeline of existing project and there is strong interest in the small volume parenteral capabilities we will be adding later this year.”