Roche has signed a definitive agreement with Patheon under which Patheon will acquire Roche’s active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing facility in Florence, South Carolina.

Under the agreement, Patheon will acquire the site for an immaterial sum, plus the cost of associated inventory and spare parts. Patheon has also entered into a multi-year supply arrangement with Roche. Patheon expects the supply agreement to help defray the costs associated with running the site for the next few years while it adds new client work into the facility. Over time, Patheon expects the Florence facility to have a similar financial profile to its other sites in its drug-substance segment.

With the new acquisition, Patheon will add a 1,100-acre, 300,000 square-foot facility with manufacturing capacity for APIs, providing the company with a US API operation capable of supporting products from clinical-scale to commercial-scale manufacturing. The Florence facility features reactors ranging from 50 liters to 11,000 liters. With the addition of this site, Patheon expands its capacity for manufacturing highly potent compounds and adds capabilities to support solid-state chemistry, micronization, and eventually, commercial spray drying.

Source: Patheon