New Pharma Facility For Ciba

Chemical and pharmaceutical company Ciba of Switzerland is investing over 40 million Swiss francs ($30.3 million) to build a new, high-tech pharmaceutical facility in Basel, it has announced. Clinical testing samples for solid galenic forms such as powders, tablets and capsules will be manufactured in the new building. Production capacity will be over 6 million tablets per year.

Pierre Douaze, head of the pharmaceutical division said: "Basel is ideal for this new building, above all because of its proximity to research, development and production. Basel plays an important role in the cooperation amongst our worldwide research and development centers."

Meantime in the USA, Ciba is transferring marketing of Habitrol, its nicotine smoking cessation patch from its prescription drug unit to its over-the-counter unit, Ciba Consumer Pharmaceuticals, on January 1. The company is running human clinical tests with the patch, prior to applying to the US food and Drug Administration for permission to switch the patch to OTC status. Habitrol is already available without a prescription in more that 20 countries.