Sandoz, a specialist in generic and biosimilar medicines, has revealed plans for an additional investment of €50m to support the increased European manufacturing capabilities for finished dosage form (FDF) penicillins, the leading class of antibiotics globally.
The announcement follows the company’s pledge in 2021 to commit over €100m in new manufacturing technology for the production of oral amoxicillin active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) at Kundl, Austria. This investment will further drive and increase the manufacturing capacity for FDFs of amoxicillin and other vital penicillin products.
The new three-floor site aims to improve and accelerate bulk formulation and fill-finish activities for penicillins for distribution worldwide, while automation, state-of-the-art technology for API manufacturing and refined processing will enable the company to integrate all production tasks into a single process in one location.
As a result, Sandoz aims to achieve increased capacity and supply reliability, in addition to supporting a double-digit increase in its future output capacity for penicillins.
In 2021, the company also shared that it was investing an additional €50m for sterile API production at Palafolls, Spain. Taking into account the company’s plans, combined with Austrian federal government schemes to contribute or coordinate public funding of an estimated €50m, a total amount of over €250m is now being invested in the Sandoz antibiotics network across Europe.
Speaking at a ceremony in Kundl, Sandoz’s chief executive officer Richard Saynor, said: “Antibiotics remain the backbone of modern medicine and we are seeing rapidly increasing demand following the unprecedented market swings of the past few years. This investment will help to meet that growing patient need, to support the creation of hundreds of new jobs, and to partially offset the impact of high energy prices by lowering unit costs.”
Sandoz’s global operations head, Glenn Gerecke, added: “This new building, which will be ready for operation by early 2024, is part of our broader plan to drive long-term competitiveness while making a further important contribution to security of supply for critical penicillin medicines.”
Saynor added: “Minimising production costs, particularly in the face of soaring energy costs in Europe, is key to our future success, but we also need a market framework that is sustainable in the long run.
“In economic terms, antibiotics in Europe are still treated largely as commodities, but with one big difference – producers have to supply at fixed price levels, regardless of supply and demand changes. We urgently need to change the operating framework, to introduce basic concepts such as inflation-linked pricing and tenders with criteria that go beyond price
Πηγή: pmlive.com
