Organon opens pilot drugmaking facility

Dutch drugmaker Organon, a unit of Akzo Nobel, has opened a new pharmaceutical pilot plant at Oss in the Netherlands, which will be the site where medicines (in pill and liquid form) will be produced on a small scale for global clinical studies. The facility involved at investment of 37.2 million euros ($45.7 million).

BioConnection, which offers knowledge and capacity to small biotechnology companies for the development and production of biopharmaceutical medicines, has obtained user rights to part of the present filling and freeze-drying capacity of the new pilot plant. BioConnection was recently established by the Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (Brabant Development Co), the mibiton Foundation and Akzo Nobel, with financing from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Province of North Brabant and the Oss Municipality.

Toon Wilderbeek, president of Organon International and a member of the Akzo Nobel board, emphasized Organon's belief in the need to innovate. "Innovation is the engine behind the knowledge economy and can largely be found in big companies such as Akzo Nobel. Together, these companies are responsible for approximately 50% of the R&D investments in our country," he said.