• MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

    Aptar Pharma completes first phase of global expansion

    Aptar Pharma has announced that it has successfully completed the first phase of an expansion programme, costing around $180m. The global expansion aims to fulfil growing customer capacity needs for injection system solutions. It began in 2020 and intends to ultimately enable Aptar Pharma to produce over 10 billion injectable component units each year once it is completed.
    Injectables make up around 50% of the pharmaceutical drug development pipeline, with a 40% market share, and between 2016 and 2020 the sales growth of injectables was over 10% compound annual growth rate. This is largely driven by biologics and the ever-growing demand for high value solutions, which Aptar Pharma aims to develop.
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    Gael Touya, President of Aptar Pharma, said, “Our planned expansion programme proved timely and was expedited by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The investments we’re making to expand manufacturing capacity and in new, digitalised processes will benefit our customers well into the future.”
    The expansion includes facilities and investments in France and the US, with a factory in Granville, France, expected to be open and operational by 2024.
    Gabriel Zenker, President of Aptar Pharma Injectables, commented: “With this programme, we’re transforming our organisation to offer pharma companies of all sizes enhanced ways to fasttrack and de-risk their product development. In doing so, we’re fulfilling our commitment to making Aptar Pharma a first-choice, longterm partner for those seeking sustainable success for their drug development pipelines as part of our mission to shape the future of injectables together with our customers.”
  • MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

    Norstella and Citeline merge to create $5bn pharma tech firm

    Norstella, an umbrella company, has completed its merger with pharmaceutical intelligence company Citeline, which was first announced last June.
    Citeline provides intelligence, data and software for clinical trials, development and regulatory compliance. It will now join four other companies under Norstella: pharma intelligence unit Evaluate, market access specialist MMIT, healthcare data analytics software provider Panalgo and market access consultancy The Dedham Group.
    As a result of the completion of the merger, Norstella has become a $5bn group with over 1,500 employees across the five branches. Its objective is to guide life sciences companies through the drug development process so patients can access therapies more quickly.
    According to the company, it can advise on areas such as “revealing an unanticipated positive clinical outcome or quantifying the consequence of a delayed therapy to market”, while also helping drug developers handle and apply large amounts of real-world data effectively, and communicate the clinical efficacy of a new therapy.
    Norstella chief executive Mike Gallup stated: “We believe that patient access starts with identifying unmet needs and doesn’t end until a patient has a therapy in hand. As the industry moves toward highly targeted therapies focused on smaller patient populations, our clients need solutions that provide actionable answers to critical business questions to help bring drugs to market quicker – ultimately helping patients receive treatment sooner.”