Brisk holiday activity in pharmaceutical packaging
Medicines is not only produced — it has to be packaged, with vaccines and treatments packaged and stored in such a way to keep them potent for years; this specialy field has witnessed some interesting activity toward the end of the year
The holiday season was kind the some pharmaceutical companies — especially to pharmaceutical packaging players, some of which completed deals in time for the holidays, with Schott, Gerresheimer, and Alcoa all announcing developments in the closing days of 2007. In-Pharma Technologist’s Anna Lewcock offers the following examples:
* Schott Pharmaceutical Packaging has landed $800,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Defense. The pay-out is to fund research into next-generation glass packaging for biotherapeutic drugs, as part of a drive to improve preparedness in the event of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack. Schott’s research will focus on the interaction between biotherapeutic drugs and glass packaging, aiming to solve issues such as adsorption, aggregation and precipitation that can affect the efficacy of the drug. Many of the treatments stockpiled by the DOD are lyophilized to extend shelf-life, but this process is costly and the added time spent in reconstituting the drugs can slow down the distribution of vital therapeutics in the event of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack. The new funding will allow Schott to create tools to better assess the interaction between drug and packaging, to try and develop new glass packaging technologies that extend the shelf life of these biotherapeutics and allow ready-to-inject formulations.
* German pharma packaging company Gerresheimer has snapped up Spanish firm EDP, a move set to enhance the company’s growing presence in plastic pharmaceutical packaging solutions. No figures have been released, but Dresdner Kleinwort analysts estimate that EDP’s price tag will be no more than €38 million. The Spanish firm specializes in PET containers for the pharma industry, and according to Gerresheimer is the sector’s market leader. The acquisition adds three production sites to Gerresheimer’s existing manufacturing capacity, two in Spain and one in Argentina. Gerresheimer sees the move into PET-based packaging as “a real expansion” for the company, with the EDP acquisition representing the latest step in the firm’s steady expansion in the plastic pharma packaging arena. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of this month, with full integration of EDP in the German group during the first half of this year.
* U.S. firm Alcoa announced that it had found a buyer for its packaging and consumer businesses just in time for Christmas, selling over the segment for a healthy $2.7 billion in cash. The proud new owner is New Zealand’s Rank Group, a privately held company with a ‘significant’ packaging presence. Alcoa announced plans to investigate the potential sale of the businesses (alongside strategic alternatives for its Electrical and Electronic Solutions and automotive castings businesses) back in April, and fulfilled its aim of identifying a buyer by the end of 2007. Through this hefty acquisition, Rank gets its hands on three Alcoa businesses: Flexible Packaging (laminated, printed, and extruded rigid packaging for pharma and other industries), Closure Systems International (plastic and aluminum closures and capping), and Reynolds Food Packaging. The transaction is due to be completed by the end of the first quarter this year.
