The Hindu Business Line : Kemwell’s new plant set for EU supplies

Bangalore, Oct. 13 Pureplay pharma contract manufacturer Kemwell P Ltd has said it is all set to start making products for European customers at its new oral solids facility in Bangalore.

The nearly Rs 50-crore facility completed in January 2008 has received approval from the European regulator EMEA. Kemwell has secured contracts from a couple of European majors and has begun technology transfer from Europe.

Aiming global

Kemwell’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Subhash Bagaria, said the company, already a formulations supplier to top MNC and Indian majors, was set to become global partner of its customers.

He said pharma majors in North America, Western Europe and Japan – which make up over 80 per cent of the total drug market — are looking at outsourcing to low-cost countries such as India and China. “Our new oral solids facility will cater to all such markets,” he said.

The GMP (good manufacturing practices) compliance certification comes after an audit by the Medical Products Agency, Sweden, in June.

Major customers

Kemwell’s customers include AstraZeneca, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Pfizer. “We now want to extend our services to similar customers for their global needs,” said Mr Anurag Bagaria, Vice-President, Business Development.

The new facility is dedicated for exports to the US, Europe and Japan.

It can manufacture two billion tablets and capsules a year, with a provision to increase the capacity to five billion.

It is designed for uncoated, sugar-coated, film-coated tablets, effervescent tablets, and capsules with batch sizes ranging from five kg to 1,000 kg, Mr Anurag Bagaria said.

In August 2006, Kemwell acquired Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Uppsala, Sweden. The plant produces active pharma ingredients, tablets, capsules and suppositories for European customers.

Kemwell will be exporting to Europe from Bangalore for the first time; it expects the facility to raise its total capacity by over ten times along with three more facilities in Bangalore and the one in Uppsala, a company release said.

Quality Tech

“Our Swedish acquisition has provided us with an access to global technology and quality standards.

“Our new oral solids facility in India has successfully drawn on the wealth of experience available in Sweden, providing European quality of manufacturing standards at Indian standards of cost,” Mr Anurag Bagaria said.

The Swedish site also serves as the base for QP release testing into the EU.

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