Aesica gets another manufacturing plant

UK-based active pharmaceutical ingredient firm Aesica says it has taken another step towards its vision of becoming the number one supplier of APIs and formulated products to the drug industry, with the completion of the acquisition of the chemical and pharmaceutical facilities and operations of US major Abbott Laboratories' at Queenborough, in Kent, UK. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal will triple Aesica's workforce, increase its capacity and takes it into secondary manufacturing. The Queenborough plant has the capabilities to formulate and package a wide variety of dosage forms and will enable Aesica to extend its service offering to customers by developing manufactured finished products in addition to supplying APIs.

Just last month, the company opened a new pilot plant at Cramlington in Northumberland, which is the fifth owned by the firm (Marketletter September 3).