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AGC to expand in Spain

Japan’s AGC has announced plans for a new, 7,500 m2 building at the site of its AGC Pharma Chemicals Europe CDMO operation in Spain. Costing about $100 million, this is scheduled to begin operation in 1H 2024 and will add 30% to the site’s capacity. This comes on top of a 30% increase in capacity announced in April 2020.

New site for Flamma

CDMO Flamma has acquired a third API manufacturing facility in Italy from Teva. The Sicor Bulciago site at Lecco has had multiple regulatory inspections. Terms were not disclosed.

“This allows us to rapidly enhance our CMC offerings to our customers by providing further flexibility between sites,” said CEO Dr Gianpaolo Negrisoli. “Having the ability to produce more generic APIs in Italy is in line with the European pharmaceutical strategy aiming to reshore.”

Antibody buy for Piramal

India-based CDMO Piramal Pharma has taken a 27.78% equity stake in Yapan Bio of Hyderabad, which provides process development, scale-up and cGMP manufacturing of vaccines and biologics/bio-therapeutics of all kinds, including recombinant and RNA/DNA vaccines, gene therapies and monoclonal antibodies.

Minafin reorganises itself

As “part of its strategy to meet the evolution of customer needs in fine chemicals and services”, the Minafin Group has reorganised itself into three divisions, each with its own CEO, with effect from 1 October. They are:

* Health Chemistry, comprising the pharmaceutical activities of Minakem CDMO, Minakem Generics and HPAPIs, led by a CEO who is as yet unannounced

* Green Chemistry, comprising the mainly non-pharma activities of Pennakem, Minasolve, Minagro and EcoXtract, under Gust Desmedt

Delaware for WuXi STA campus

Chinese CDMO WuXi STA is to build a new pharmaceutical clinical and commercial manufacturing complex on a 78-hectare campus in Middletown, Delaware. This has been supported by the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, other state departments and local government bodies, and received grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund.

KD Pharma buys RohnerChem site

German CDMO KD Pharma, which is one of the world’s largest producers of omega-3 fatty acids has acquired the assets of former CDMO RohnerChem at Pratteln, near Basel, Switzerland (pictured), and hired some of the former team. Terms were not disclosed.

KD said that it aims to become an even bigger player and that the site’s “unique chemical processes and technological capabilities” enabled it “to manufacture difficult, multi-step pharmaceutical intermediates and APIs. This is a natural fit with our strategy.”

Grace buys Albemarle FCS

W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to acquire the Fine Chemistry Services (FCS) business of its fellow US speciality chemicals company, Albemarle, in a deal that is expected to close in Q2, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. This will bring Grace sites at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and South Haven, Michigan. FCS will fit within Pharma & Consumer, which Grace described as “the largest, fastest growing and most profitable sub-segment” in its Materials Technologies business.

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