Saneca Pharma, a Hlohovec, Slovakia-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has secured an agreement with Menarini Group, a Florence, Italy-based pharmaceutical company, to deliver controlled-release pellets for one of its products. As part of the five-year supply agreement, Saneca Pharma will be investing in its facility in Hlohovec to increase the scale at which it can perform wurster coating of the pellets, which are made by extrusion spheronization. The CDMO’s technology will be used to produce enteric-coated pellets aimed at preventing dissolution in the stomach, while allowing dissolution in the small intestine, the company said.

Saneca Pharma currently has a small-scale pellet-manufacturing capacity of 100-kilogram batch sizes. Following the investment at its plant, the company will be able to handle larger batch sizes.

Source: Saneca Pharma