Avara Pharmaceutical Services, a Norwalk, Connecticut-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organization, has agreed to acquire Pfizer’s sterile manufacturing facility in Liscate, Italy.

In addition to the Liscate facility, Avara now has four other manufacturing sites: Norman, Oklahoma; Shannon, Ireland, Avlon, UK;  and Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The addition of the Pfizer facility is now the fifth facility acquired by Avara from a large pharmaceutical company.

In 2016, Avara acquired AstraZeneca’s manufacturing facility in Avlon, Avonmouth, England. The facility manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates. Avara formed a supply pact with AstraZeneca following the acquisition of the facility. The facility manufactures multiple intermediates and APIs, including rosuvastatin, the API in AstraZeneca’s Crestor, and quetiapine, the active ingredient in AstraZeneca’s Seroquel.  

In August 2016, Avara acquired Astellas’s wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary, Astellas Pharma Technologies located in Norman, Oklahoma and also entered into a supply pact with Astellas.  With the acquisition, Avara acquired 300,000 square feet of building space that provides dosage-form development, commercial manufacturing, formulation, analytical laboratories, and warehousing.

The company’s site in Shannon, Ireland was acquired from UCB and produces APIs. Avara’s facility in Arecibo, Puerto Rico was acquired from Merck & Co., and offers manufacturing and packaging capabilities for oral solid dose drug products, including for high-containment products.

Avara Pharmaceutical Services is a privately owned division of the American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) group of companies. AIAC, founded in 1995, consists of 60 manufacturing sites and more than 8,500 employees in 15 countries, with annual revenues of $1.2 billion. Avara, a contract provider of primary and secondary manufacturing and packaging, is headed by Tim Tyson, formerly chief executive officer (CEO) of Aptuit. From 2002-2008 he was at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, where he served as CEO. Prior to that, he was at GlaxoSmithKline for almost 15 years, initially in engineering, then sales and marketing and then as president of GSK’s Global Manufacturing & Supply Division

Source: Avara Pharmaceutical Services