Piramal Health to invest Rs 70 cr in UK facility

Company says expansion will see Morpeth site's production capacity increase by around 2 billion tablets per annum

Piramal Healthcare is investing $11 million (Rs 70 crore) at its Morpeth, UK facility to triple the production capacity for hormonal products, including contraceptive pills and hormone replacement therapies.

The expansion will see the Morpeth site’s production capacity increase by around 2 billion tablets per annum, said a company statement.

Work on the new suite, which will house formulation, packaging coating and tableting equipment, will commence at the end of 2013.

This latest investment follows Piramal Healthcare’s recent plans to invest $2.5 million at its FDA approved Grangemouth, UK, site to upgrade one of its antibody drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing suites, from clinical phase to commercial grade.

Vijay Shah, Executive Director and COO, Piramal Enterprises said, “The hormonal sector currently represents a $11 billion market globally and is growing at a pace of 4-5% annually.

With major competition limited to a small number of CMOs (contract manufacturing) in Europe, Piramal sees major opportunities for growth in this area given our vast experience in this field, which spans more than 40 years.”
 
The 13,000 sq ft Morpeth facility, acquired by Piramal from Pfizer in 2006, also houses Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) production, general solid formulation production, and a range of clinical trial supply and research facilities.