NextPharma Expands OSD Capacity

As part of NextPharma’s ongoing strategy to continue to invest in its existing sites, in order to both increase capacity and to improve efficiency with modern state-of-the-art equipment, the European contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) recently completed a €15 million investment at its Goettingen, Germany site. The investment project, which was completed within 12 months, expands NextPharma’s existing capacity in manufacturing and packaging of oral solid dosage forms.

The project involved construction of a new 1,000 square meter building on two levels, with additional production facilities on the ground floor for mixing, compression, film coating and granulation. The investment has increased capacity at the site by 25%, equivalent to an increase in manufacturing and packaging capacity of approximately one billion tablets.

A high-performance packaging line for blister packs has been installed on the upper floor of the building, and another bottle packaging line will be added in the second quarter of 2021. The entire building is controlled with the most up-to-date building control and ventilation (HVAC) technology. The building and its facilities became operational in the third quarter of 2020.

“We are very happy to support both our existing and new customers’ product supply with this state-of-the-art additional capacity, which also represents a significant step in NextPharma’s growth strategy as a leading Europe-based CDMO,” said Peter Burema, chief executive officer, NextPharma. “Although today we celebrate the additional competitive capacity of solid dosage forms at our Goettingen site, we also continue to invest across all of our sites and capabilities, as we consider this to be imperative in order to meet the challenge of product supply within the pharmaceutical market, which has become even more visible during the Covid-19 crisis.”

NextPharma has a current footprint spanning five sites in Germany, one in France and one in Finland. It supplies products globally, with six of its seven sites FDA-approved. With expertise in solids, semi solids and non-sterile and sterile liquids, the company provides services from pharmaceutical development, clinical supplies, scale-up and process validation through to commercial manufacturing for a large range of dosage forms including tablets, capsules, granules, powders, pellets, gels, creams, sprays and syrups. Additionally, it provides a wide range of packaging solutions including blow-fill-seal, blisters, bottles, sachets, stick packs and tubes.