Sagent acquires US facility with an eye on future biosimilar products

Sagent Pharmaceuticals, part of the Nichi-Iko company, invested in a manufacturing site in North Carolina, US. Sagent did not reveal the financial terms of the transaction.

The Raleigh-based site can manufacture both small molecule and biologic products, and is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved.

CEO of Sagent, Peter Kaemmerer, stated that the facility will be used to “enable production of lyophilised formulations of [its] future biosimilar product offerings.”​

Additionally, the company will continue to supply Xellia Pharmaceuticals with products from the facility. Kaemmerer confirmed that existing staff members will be retained as part of the acquisition.

The site represents the first facility that Sagent, and its parent company, Nichi-Iko, will own in the US. CEO of Nichi-Iko, Yuichi Tamura, suggested that the move would strengthen its position in the US market, in terms of competitiveness and capability.

Nichi-Iko acquired Sagent​ for $736m (€652m) in 2016, and is one of the largest generic drug manufacturers in Japan, by sales. In full-year financials for 2017-2018, it posted net sales of $1.47bn.