Avara Pharmaceutical Services prepares to acquire a Canada-based sterile manufacturing facility for injectable medicines from Novartis Technical Operations.
The sites involved in the agreement are Novartis Technical Operations’ sterile manufacturing facility and the adjacent Sandoz Development Center located on the Sandoz Canada campus in Boucherville, Quebec. The acquisition is expected to be finalised in the next few months. Following the completion of a number of closing conditions including receipt of anti-trust approvals.
“This acquisition represents our first entry into the Canadian market and further expands our sterile processing capability, which is in very high demand,” said Timothy C. Tyson, Avara’s chairman and CEO.
The Boucherville site is the biggest injectables production facility in Canada and provides a number of strategic and lifesaving medicines to the Canadian healthcare system, mostly hospitals.
The deal follows Avara’s acquisition of another sterile facility in the past year from Pfizer in Liscate, Italy and a solid dose manufacturing facility from GlaxoSmithKline in Aiken, South Carolina in the US.
According to Avara, the new acquisition will bring the number of manufacturing and development sites operated worldwide by the company to ten: two in Canada; three in the US, including its corporate headquarters; one in Puerto Rico; one in the UK; one in Ireland; one in Italy; and one in France.
As part of the asset purchase agreement, the parties have committed to sign a long-term supply contract to guarantee continuous supply of products manufactured in Boucherville.
No impact on jobs is anticipated at the moment and Avara intends to invest in the site and pursue business development opportunities to optimise the plant’s utilisation and expand its customer base.
“We look forward to a seamless transition for employees, patients, customers, partners and other stakeholders,” added Tyson.
