Australia's Stirling Products is up and running at its Canadian drug-making facility, purchased about a year ago "at a major discount" to its assessed value of $20 million. The 4,270-square-meter Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, plant is currently producing 300 kilograms of tableted product on its first contract.
The bargain purchase of the operating plant followed the collapse of an unnamed Canadian pharmaceutical group and its institutional lender. Stirling nonetheless had to revalidate all plant and equipment as well as processes and procedures to gain manufacturing permits from Canadian authorities.
The drugmaker expects to begin manufacturing this month using on-hand acetaminophen stock. The plant is built for the manufacture and packaging of 550 million tablets and 5 million bottles. Blend capacity is 1.5 million kilograms. It marks a milestone in Stirling's global positioning strategy.
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