International production news round-up

In-Pharmatechnologist.com's periodic round-up of pharma production developments from around the world sees a Spanish contract manufacturer adding capacity, a new GMP plant in China, upgrades to facilities in Canada and Belarus, and some bad news for Girindus.

• Valeant Pharmaceuticals has sold its manufacturing operations in Corbera de Llobregat, Spain, to Labiana Group , a specialist in contract development and manufacturing which before 1999 was part of the BASF group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Labiana got into pharmaceutical manufacturing in 2002 with the purchase of a facility in Barcelona. This is its second pharma production plant.
• AXM Pharma of China has confirmed that the construction of its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-standard factory is almost complete. The majority of the construction and delivery of equipment has been finished, and some areas, including an ointment/paste facility, are now ready for GMP certification. Construction of a solid formulation workshop has also been completed. It is anticipated that the factory will be operational and the Chinese GMP inspection group will perform their inspection for certification later this month.
• The Belarusian government is planning to invest BYR 2 billion (€700,000) to expand amino acid production at its Grodno Medicines Plant, according to the Interfax news agency. By the end of 2007, the plant will be producing 5.2 tons of amino acids and more than a dozen pharmaceutical substances that will be used to treat cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other diseases.
• Dalton Chemical Laboratories, a privately owned Canadian pharmaceutical services provider, has completed the third phase of expansion at its Toronto site. The latest $1.4m investment includes a peptide production laboratory, a microbiology laboratory, a quality assurance (QA) sampling suite, an oligonucleotide production suite, a back up generator and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, said Dalton . Equipment includes four Akta OligoPilots each capable of producing 50g of oligo per run.
• Girindus said it has stopped negotiations with an Indian chemical company on the sale of an established process for the production of an innovative active for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The termination of the negotiations has caused the German firm to revise its sales and profit forecasts. But on the positive side, after several months delay, a new oligonucleotide production facility in the US is now scheduled to go on-stream by the end of the year.