The facility in Raleigh, North Carolina houses lyophilisation tech that Xellia will use to process and freeze-dry the anti-infective drugs it makes for its customers according to a spokeswoman for Danish firm.
She also told in-Pharmatechnologist.com the plant, Xellia's first in North America, moves the firm closer to a key customer base.
“Xellia has more than 500 customers in more than 70 countries across the world. North America is our largest market and therefore there is a benefit to having local manufacturing capabilities.
“The future opportunity of producing the same products across multiple sites means that the acquisition enhances a continuous security of supply. Additionally, we believe that we will become a more valuable supplier by increasing our services and offerings.”
One of the customers Xellia will supply with finished dosage forms made at the facility is Fresenius Kabi, under a multi-year agreement that builds on a long standing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production agreement.
Supply network expansion
Xellia will also take on the 80 or so manufacturing employees who work at the site according to the spokeswoman who said that: “In the short term we will continue with the current manufacturing and focus on running the business “as usual”.
“The Raleigh site will become an integrated part of the global Xellia supply network. Over time our employees will be able to benefit from networking and through sharing best practices across our different manufacturing and research and development sites. We also plan to increase the headcount on site to support the planned expansion.”
The acquisition – financial terms of which were not disclosed – follows just a few months after Xellia spent $2m expanding its research and development centre in Zagreb, Croatia.