Supplier News: BASF, Evonik Flamma, Curia, Hovione & More
The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring Flamma, Curia, Hovione, Catalent, Repligen, Piramal Pharma Solutions, Agilent Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Evotec, Sterling Pharma Solutions, Ofichem, Ritedose Corporation, and Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services.
Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing
* BASF in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Evonik
* Flamma To Acquire API Mfg Facility in Italy rom Lundbeck
* Curia To Invest $28 M To Expand Sterile API Mfg
* Agilent Adds New Lab To Support Oligonucleotide Mfg
* Sterling Pharma Solutions Expands UK Bioconjugation Facility
* CDMO Ofichem To Acquire Kinentia Biosciences
Biologics Manufacturing
* Catalent Launches Gene-To-Complex Biologic Drug-Substance Service
* Repligen Completes Acquisition of BioLife Solutions
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing
* Hovione Investing $35 M in New Continuous Tableting Line
* Piramal Pharma Solutions Opens New Microbiology Lab
* Ritedose Opens New $17-M Analytical Testing & Microbiology Lab
General
* Thermo Fisher Scientific Provides Update on Expansion Activity
Appointments
* Evotec Announces Search for New Chief Scientific Officer
* Symbiosis Makes Appointments in Business Development, Sales Teams
Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing
BASF in Exploratory Talks to Acquire Evonik
BASF confirmed in a September 25, 2026, press statement that it is in exploratory talks to acquire the specialty and fine-chemicals company, Evonik. As of press time (October 8, 2026), the companies have not issued further press statements on a proposed transaction,
“As part of its corporate strategy, BASF continuously evaluates the strategic option of acquisitions that strengthen its core businesses, deliver a strong strategic fit, drive profitable growth and create value,” said BASF in its September 25, 2026, statement. “In doing so, BASF takes a disciplined approach. The company will inform the market in accordance with regulatory requirements without delay, if and to the extent required.”
BASF is one of the largest chemical companies in the world, with 108,251 employees worldwide and 234 production sites in 93 countries worldwide (as reported for end-of year 2025). Its sales reached approximately EUR 59.7 billion ($68 billion) in 2025.
Evonik generated EUR 14.1 billion ($16.1 billion) in sales in 2025. In June (June 2026), the company announced further restructuring in addition to its previously announced Evonik Tailor Made restructuring and efficiency program originally announced in 2023. The June announcement specified that a total of 3,200 jobs will be eliminated, including 2,150 positions in Germany. This measure will run from 2027 to the end of 2029. In late September (September 2026), the company announced details of its growth strategy over the next three years.
Source: BASF
Flamma To Acquire API Mfg Facility in Italy from Lundbeck
Flamma, a CDMO of small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), peptides, and advanced intermediates, has agreed to acquire an API manufacturing facility in Padova, Italy, from Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals Italy. The transaction is expected to close on January 1, 2027, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Padova site would add up to 220 m³ of manufacturing capacity, bringing Flamma’s total capacity in Italy to approximately 1,100 m³. It also expands Flamma’s technical capabilities in areas, including hydrogenation, micronization, high-pressure chemistry, hazardous chemistry, and high-containment manufacturing.
Upon completion, Flamma will operate four cGMP manufacturing facilities in Northern Italy, in addition to its operations in China and the US.
Source: Flamma
Curia To Invest $28 M To Expand Sterile API Mfg
Curia, a CDMO of drug substances and drug products, has announced a $28-million investment at its site in products in Valladolid, Spain, to expand its sterile active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing capabilities for both steroid and non-steroid products. This expansion is set to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2028. The expansion will enhance support for injectable suspensions and other complex sterile formulations. The expanded capabilities will also support flexibility in scale from grams to metric tons and offer customizable aseptic packaging configurations.
Source: Curia
Agilent Adds New Lab To Support Oligonucleotide Mfg
Agilent Technologies, a Santa Clara, California-based provider of analytical instrumentation, consumables, and related technologies and a CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients, has announced the addition of new laboratory space in Boulder, Colorado, to support the expansion of its oligonucleotide manufacturing capabilities. The facility is expected to support the development and scale-up of emerging manufacturing technologies for oligonucleotide therapeutics, initially focusing on enzymatic ligation. Enzymatic ligation uses enzymes to join shorter oligonucleotide fragments into longer therapeutic molecules. The approach is being evaluated as a complement to solid-phase phosphoramidite synthesis, an established method used across oligonucleotide development and manufacturing.
The new Boulder laboratory complements Agilent’s existing oligonucleotide operations in Colorado and its broader manufacturing capabilities in Canada. Agilent expects initial customer programs to begin in the Boulder laboratory in November 2026, subject to applicable operational and regulatory requirements.
Source: Agilent Technologies
Sterling Pharma Solutions Expands UK Bioconjugation Facility
Sterling Pharma Solutions, a CDMO of small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), peptides, and other conjugates, has completed an additional large-scale GMP manufacturing suite at its bioconjugation facility in Deeside, Wales, which will double capacity, as well as increase the scale of manufacturing to 500 L.
The new GMP manufacturing suite includes a 500-L reactor and a 1,400-square-foot Grade C cleanroom to support large-scale GMP projects. The new suite will utilize both flexible and hard containment technologies to enable the handling of highly potent compounds. The Deeside facility can handle molecules with exposure limits down to 0.05ng/m3 (OEB 5) with processing undertaken in single-use bioreactors. The Deeside site houses Sterling’s bioconjugation teams for discovery, development, scale-up, and manufacturing of clinical ADCs and other bioconjugates, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates, antibody-peptide conjugates, and radio-chelators.
The multi-million-pound investment also includes the construction of a new analytical development laboratory and additional office space. The new laboratory, which totals 3,400 square feet, increases high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) capacity at the site. New capability includes an UPLC-LC/MS, a Bio-Techne MFI for particle-size imaging, a protein-stability characterization instrument and an automated, plate-based ultrafiltration and diafiltration instrument. The laboratory also includes a dedicated area for cell assay method development and analysis.
Source: Sterling Pharma Solutions
CDMO Ofichem To Acquire Kinentia Biosciences
Ofichem, a Ter Apel, the Netherlands-headquartered CDMO, has agreed to acquire Kinentia Biosciences, a Rensselaer, New York-based contract provider of research and development services. Completion of the transaction remains subject to approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency group chaired by the US Department of the Treasury.
Source: Ofichem
Biologics Manufacturing
Catalent Launches Gene-To-Complex Biologic Drug-Substance Service
Catalent has announced the US launch of an accelerated gene-to-drug substance program for complex biologics, which is designed to help developers move bispecifics, multispecifics, and other next-generation molecules from gene sequence to drug substance in 10 months. The program builds on Catalent’s rapid antibody offering for traditional monoclonal antibodies, which supports gene-to-GMP drug substance in eight months.
The complex biologics timeline includes three customer-facing milestones from gene sequence: Master cell bank conditional release anticipated by month 7; bulk drug substance shipment to Catalent’s drug product site anticipated by month 9; and bulk drug substance lot release anticipated by month 10.
Source: Catalent
Repligen Completes Acquisition of BioLife Solutions
Repligen, a provider of bioprocessing technologies and systems, has completed its acquisition of BioLife Solutions, a developer and supplier of cell-processing tools and services for cell and gene therapies.
Source: Repligen
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing
Hovione Investing $35 M in New Continuous Tableting Line
Hovione, a CDMO of drug substances and drug products, has announced it will commission a ConsiGma CDC Flex, a continuous direct compression platform jointly developed with the equipment manufacturer, GEA, for a continuous tableting line. Once installed, it will create an integrated pathway from amorphous solid dispersion manufacturing via spray drying through commercial tablet production. The line will be installed at 89 Twin Rivers, Hovione´s recently opened facility, expanding the company´s drug-product capabilities.
Source: Hovione
Piramal Pharma Solutions Opens New Microbiology Lab
Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), a CDMO of small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products, has opened a new microbiology laboratory at its sterile injectable facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
This addition marks a step forward in PPS’ ongoing $85-million Lexington expansion, aimed at enhancing commercial-scale capabilities and improving operational efficiency. The new laboratory was released for routine GMP use on September 11, 2026, and shortly thereafter, its new sterility testing suite was conditionally approved, making the lab one of the first major components to come online in the expansion. The full manufacturing expansion is expected to be operational in late 2027.
The new lab more than triples the site’s existing microbiology testing space, supporting improved laboratory workflow and providing additional capacity to accommodate future growth. The added space features three new biosafety cabinets, allowing PPS to run concurrent tests and reduce sample queue times. All incubators have also been consolidated within the new lab, further streamlining workflow and improving monitoring and accessibility across testing activities.
Source: Piramal Pharma Solutions
Ritedose Opens New $17-M Analytical Testing & Microbiology Lab
The Ritedose Corporation, a CDMO focused on blow-fill-seal technology, has opened a new $17-million cGMP laboratory to expand its analytical chemistry and microbiology capabilities at its site in Columbia, South Carolina.
Source: Ritedose Corporation
General
Thermo Fisher Scientific Provides Update on Expansion Activity
Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced an update on a series of expansions across its drug development, manufacturing, and clinical capabilities.
The company is investing in sterile drug-product capacity, including new and expanded lines for development and commercial manufacturing of vials and prefilled syringes at the following sites: Plainville, Massachusetts; Monza, Italy; and Ferentino, Italy. The company is also expanding fill–finish and drug–device capabilities in Ridgefield, New Jersey, including through its previously announced collaboration with SHL Medical, a medical technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures advanced drug-delivery devices, such as autoinjectors and pen injectors.
The company is also investing in capabilities for biologics development, manufacturing, and clinical supply. New bioprocessing equipment in Plainville, Massachusetts, will expand US-based cGMP monoclonal antibody manufacturing capacity, and the company recently opened a US Bioprocess Design Center in Plainview.
The company is expanding its small-molecule capabilities through a collaboration with AustinPx, a CDMO specializing in bioavailability enhancement for orally delivered small-molecule drugs, to provide customers access to AustinPx’s KinetiSol technology, a solvent-free technology designed to improve the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs and support development and scale-up through commercial manufacturing.
Thermo Fisher is also making targeted investments in tableting, laboratory, and packaging capabilities for oral solid-dose development and commercial manufacturing, including new technology for advanced dry granulation and improved tablet manufacturing efficiency at its facilities in Bourgoin, France, and Whitby, Canada, and serialized packaging capabilities in Cincinnati. Ohio, and Toronto, Canada.
In clinical trial supply, a 52,000-square-foot expansion in Bohemia, New York, will increase clinical-label manufacturing capacity, and a new facility in Heiwajima, Tokyo, is expected to approximately double storage, distribution and secondary packaging capacity in Japan. Across the global clinical supply network, Thermo Fisher is also making investments in technologies supporting drug-device combination product assembly, labeling and packaging. These scalable technologies enable fit-for-phase automation, supporting programs from early clinical development through commercialization as volume and complexity increase.
Source: Thermo Fisher Scientific
Appointments
Evotec Announces Search for New Chief Scientific Officer
Evotec announced that Dr. Cord Dohrmann, formerly the company’s Chief Scientific Officer stepped down, effective September 30, 2026. He had served as Chief Scientific Officer and Member of the Management Board since 2010. The search for his replacement is ongoing.
Source: Evotec
Symbiosis Makes Appointments in Business Development, Sales Teams
Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services, a CDMO of aseptic fill-finish for injectables, has made three appointments to its business development and sales teams.
Joaquín Pérez Fornieles, formerly Sales Manager for Commercial Products for the CDMO, Carbogen Amcis, has joined the company’s business development team with responsibility for Southern Europe and support for other European and selected markets. Payal Roychoudhury, with 15 years of experience in scientific, technical and commercial roles at AstraZeneca, Lonza and Thermo Fisher Scientific, has joined the business development team with a focus on the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East territories. Annie Shafran, formerly Key Account Manager with LCG, joins as Inside Sales Manager.
