Recipharm expands Italian plant acquired last year

Recipharm laid out about $160 million to buy Italian CMO Corvette last year and now will plow additional money into one of the three Milan area plants it got as the Swedish CDMO builds up its lyophilization capacity.

Recipharm today said it will invest about $4.2 million (€3.7 million) in a facility in Masate, Italy to boost its vial filling capacity by about 20%. The plant specializes in aseptic manufacturing and filling of parenterals, and can handle both vials and ampoules.

The expansion is part of a bigger effort by Recipharm to become a dominant player in freeze-drying. The contractor is also expanding capacity at a plant in Wasserburg, Germany, spending about $36.1 (€32 million) on a lyophilization project there.

The investments are part of a significant build-up of the company in the last few years expanding both geographically and in terms of capabilities. The contract manufacturing industry is going through a period of significant consolidation, with some companies seeing the future in terms of either getting bigger or getting bought. Recipharm decided to be one of the survivors.

In April it struck a $205 million (SEK 1.7 billion) two-stage deal with India’s Kemwell to pay about $85 million for operations in Sweden and the U.S. for Kemwell’s drug development business. That included a facility in Research Triangle Park, NC, that is Recipharms first U.S. operation. It also agreed to pay $120 million to get operations in India that include FDA-approved API manufacturing.

That deal came on the heels of a $102 million investment for a 74% stake in India’s Nitin Lifesciences, which included three manufacturing plants that specialize in small volume production of sterile injectable products.  

- here’s the release

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