Patheon spends $26m to up capacity for liquid and freeze-dried drugs

Patheon NV has completed a $26m-expansion of its Greenville, North Carolina manufacturing site at which it will make lyophilised pharmaceuticals.

In addition to upgrading existing technologies, the Netherlands-headquartered firm added a second production suite featuring disposable equipment. The additional capacity will support production of sterile liquid and lyophilized products.

Drug industry demand for services offered at the Greenville site, which also include solid dose manufacturing and packaging and life cycyle extension, increased in the three months ended January 31, 2017.

According to Patheon’s report, pharmaceutical development service (PDS) revenue grew 7.8% to in $52.3m which the firm attributed to “continued expansion of PDS services at our Greenville, North Carolina site and increased development activities at our European sites.”

Similarly, Patheon said its drug product services (DPS) unit – which saw revenue increase 6.5% to $275.2m – had been helped by the launch of new products manufactured at the Greenville site.

A Patheon spokeswoman told us "The revenue contribution for Greenville is under 10 percent," adding that "PDS is continuing its growth trajectory and we are continue to hire to staff the expanded suite and meeting the growing needs of our clients."