CMO UPM Pharmaceuticals is buying a 500,000-square-foot plant from Pfizer ($PFE) for an undisclosed sum, a huge boost to its capacity that comes paired with a big-name new client.
Under the agreement, Pfizer will hand over the Bristol, TN, facility it acquired in its $3.6 billion purchase of King Pharmaceuticals in 2010, leaving it in the hands of UPM and its CEO, John Gregory, who founded King back in 1994. Packaged with the acquisition is a two-year agreement tasking UPM with manufacturing the Pfizer products produced at the plant.
The buy gives UPM new manufacturing capabilities in solid oral dosage tablets and capsules, plus semi-solid creams and ointments. With all the added capacity, the plant will help UPM offer its clients a seamless transition from formulation development to commercialization, Gregory said.
"The new facility will give UPM the capability to annually produce 3.5 billion tablets and 680 million capsules; this will be a dramatic growth opportunity for our company and our clients," Gregory said in a statement.
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