The firm paid $13m (€11m) for the 3,000m² Centralised Laboratory Services expansion, which is comprised of microbiology and chemical analytical laboratories, and a product stability centre, and administrative offices.
The firm said the site will test active pharmaceutical ingredient (APIs) and finished dosage form (FDF) products, such as including vancomycin, colistimethate sodium and daptomycin.
CEO Carl-Åke Carlsson told in-PharmaTechnologist the facility – located next to a Xellia API plant – is a critical component of servicing increased demand for the firm’s anti-infective products.
“Xellia has experienced significant growth in the past couple of years and expects this to continue over the next five year period,” he said.
Hungarian history
According to Carlsson, the Copenhagen, Denmark-headquartered firm has a long history of operating in Budapest.
“Over the past years we have invested in increased manufacturing capacity and a new fermentation pilot facility in Budapest. Hungary has strong roots in pharmaceutical operations and offers competitive conditions for establishing such a central laboratory service,” he said.
The expansion has resulted in the creation of more than 40 new roles, which Xellia aims to increase to 80 by 2019.
Cleveland injectables
Carlsson told us Xellia, which develops, manufactures and supplies fermented and semi-synthetic APIs and FDFs to the pharmaceutical industry, is also expanding its injectables capacity.
“The company is significantly expanding its sterile injectable manufacturing capacity in the US with the Cleveland facility becoming operational during 2018,” Carlsson told us.