Hovione Reports on Recent Capacity Expansion and Future Plans

Hovione reported recent capacity expansion and future plans in its sites in Portugal, Ireland, and New Jersey, the company reported in a press release on March 19, 2018. The capacity expansion program started in 2016 and will continue in the coming five years.

Since 2016, Hovione relocated its development services to a new center in Lisbon, Portugal, which is 15 minutes away from the Loures manufacturing site and is equipped to handle potent and highly potent compounds. The new building hosts 200 scientists from the chemistry, particle engineering, formulation, and analytical development areas.

In this same period, the Loures site expanded its drug substance reaction vessel capacity with a small-scale production area and a new pilot plant. In addition, one pilot and two large-scale spray dryers were installed at the site, and operation began of a new drug product center equipped with oral dosage form and inhalation manufacturing capabilities. The company also doubled the size of its development and manufacturing operations in the New Jersey site, providing it with capabilities from chemical and analytical development, through spray drying to formulation. The site now hosts 14 m³ of reaction vessel capacity with four independent trains, a pilot and a large-scale spray dryer, and a continuous tableting unit. 

At the Cork site, Hovione is reinstating and renewing a production building with 157 m³ of chemical synthesis capacity devoted to contract manufacturing. Approximately half of this capacity will be ready for operation by May 2018.

Over the next three years at the Loures site, the company will add a new chemical synthesis and spray dryer building for contract manufacturing, with a total area of 4200 m² for 165 m³ of reaction vessel capacity and two large spray drying units, new formulation facilities that will enable the production of bigger batch sizes, and a new building that will host an additional 1200 m² of analytical laboratories.

This investment effort is being paired with recruiting and training new staff.

“This capacity expansion plan is far more than a matter of production capacity solely. It aims to reorganize sites with new buildings, renew existing facilities, and give operations the most advanced equipment in the market, to provide our customers and team members with the technology and the capacity they need to grow in a sustainable way. It is a significant effort and commitment from Hovione to stay ahead of and prepare for future demand,” said Nuno Almeida, vice-president of Engineering, in the press release.

Source: Hovione