Avara Pharmaceutical Services has closed an agreement to purchase AstraZeneca’s secondary solid dosage, form-manufacturing, packaging and distribution facility located in Reims, France.

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, Avara is a new and advanced contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) that conducts both the formulation and production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).

In addition, the company provides secondary formulation, development, packaging and distribution of small molecule drugs, including highly potent compounds.

Avara Pharmaceutical Services chairman and chief executive officer Timothy Tyson said: "This key acquisition is another important component of our strategic plan that further expands our services."

With the acquisition of AstraZeneca’s Reims facility, Avara currently operates eight manufacturing sites worldwide, with three in the US, one in the UK, one in Italy, one in Ireland, one in Puerto Rico, as well as the new unit in France.

The company also has secondary manufacturing technologies such as granulation, coating, blending, encapsulation, compression and drying of tablets and capsules.

Tyson added: "With rapid expansion and integration set for 2017-2018, we continue, with great confidence, to build a pharmaceutical services company with complementary offerings in key regions to serve the rapidly growing market.

"Each site has significant professional experience, state-of-the-art capability and a long history of delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals that meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements in every major market around the world."

In September this year, Avara Pharmaceutical Services signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to buy its consumer healthcare manufacturing unit in Aiken, South Carolina, US.

Additionally, the firm signed an agreement in August to acquire the Liscate, Italy sterile manufacturing facility from Pfizer.