Investments in commercial and development spray drying, and flexible manufacturing solutions.

Patheon expects to invest approximately $45 million at key sites across its global network to meet growing customer demand for expanded service capabilities.

"As outsourcing of pharma development and manufacturing services continues to grow, our customers will need even more advanced technologies and customized solutions to meet their business needs," said Michel Lagarde, president of Patheon. "With the increasing marketplace pressures, pharma companies are looking to build more reliable, flexible and cost-efficient supply chains. With our focus on people, process and capabilities, Patheon is uniquely positioned to partner with pharma companies to achieve their objectives – cost effectively while delivering the highest quality."

Patheon is investing in the following key areas:

Commercial & Development Spray Drying

The company’s recently acquired site located in Florence, South Carolina, will be adding commercial spray drying capabilities, complementing the existing development capabilities available at the company’s low-solubility center of excellence in Bend, Oregon. The 15,000-sq.-ft. dedicated suite will contain two spray dryers delivering development and commercial scale spray-dried dispersion (SDD) services. The suite is expected to be online in 2019. Spray Drying is a process that creates amorphous solid dispersions and is a key technology utilized to enhance the solubility of poorly soluble drugs.

At the Bend, Oregon site the company plans to expand existing development SDD capabilities with a new cGMP analytical lab, manufacturing suite and additional development scale spray drying. Together, the expertise and capabilities at the Florence and Bend locations provide clients with an end-to-end solution for products with solubility challenges, from development to commercialization, to successfully bring products to market.

Flexible Manufacturing Solutions

Patheon has invested in a new commercial sterile product manufacturing facility in its Monza, Italy site. The facility will house three, 40 m2 lyophilizers with associated eight-headed integrated filling equipment for both lyo and liquid formulations for small and large molecules in a range of vial specifications. The equipment will have full CIP/SIP systems, auto loading for the lyophilizers contained in full RABs systems to ensure the highest level of sterility assurance.

Patheon also plans to expand its sterile product Pharmaceutical Development Services (PDS) at the Monza facility. The sterile suite will contain two 7 m2 lyophilizers and associated sterile vial filling line and analytical laboratory. This new facility will serve the company’s clients seeking to develop both small and large molecule injectable products (liquid and lyo formulations) and will be operational in mid-2019. All of Patheon’s PDS sterile suites are co-located within facilities with commercial scale capabilities to ease with the transition from clinical to commercialization.

Patheon will also expand its packaging and serialization capabilities at its Greenville, NC site. The company has built a new filling and packaging suite and upgraded another of its packaging lines with new technology to improve efficiency and reduce change-over time. The newly constructed 4,800-sq.-ft suite will come online this fall and features a filling and packaging line equipped with an Optel serialization system. The state-of-the-art system includes cameras, pharma proof stations, line master, and bottle and bundle tracker equipment.

These investments will help clients realize greater efficiency and accelerate the delivery of products to market.