Avara Acquires Sterile Manufacturing Facility from Sandoz

On Sept. 6, 2018, contract development and manufacturing organization Avara Pharmaceutical Services announced that it acquired Sandoz’s sterile manufacturing facility for injectable medicines in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada.

The Boucherville site provides a number of pharmaceuticals to the Canadian healthcare system, mostly hospitals. As part of the asset purchase agreement, the companies signed a long-term supply contract to guarantee continuous supply of products manufactured in Boucherville. Avara reports that there will be no impact on jobs and Avara intends to invest in the site and pursue business development opportunities to optimize the plant’s utilization and expand its client base.

The acquisition of the sterile manufacturing facility, announced in May 2018, also includes the adjacent development center.

The Sandoz facility acquisition is the most recent in a series of site purchases by Avara. Other facilities acquired by Avara include another sterile facility in August 2017 from Pfizer in Liscate, Italy; a solid-dose manufacturing facility in September 2017 from GlaxoSmithKline in Aiken, SC; and a solid-dosage form manufacturing, packaging, and distribution facility in Reims, France from AstraZeneca in October 2017.

“This acquisition represents an important addition to the Avara portfolio and further expands our sterile processing capability, which is in very high demand,” said Timothy C. Tyson, chairman and CEO, in a company press release. “It comes with a market leading development capability and a dedicated team of experts that will support us in delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals that meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements. We are excited to transition this Sandoz world-class center of excellence into a world-class center of excellence for the contract development manufacturing market.”

The Boucherville acquistion brings Avara’s total number of manufacturing and development sites to 10: two in Canada; three in the United States, including corporate headquarters; one in Puerto Rico; one in the UK; one in Ireland; one in Italy; and one in France.

Source: Avara Pharmaceutical Services