Novasep will plough €30 million (about $39 million) into constructing what it claims will be the world’s largest chromatography plant for the large-scale production of commercial APIs. The new facility, to be constructed at Novasep’s existing site in Mourenx (France), is expected to be operational and validated within 18 months. The latest investment is the firm’s third this year. A new 2,000 m2 facility in Shanghai was opened in March, and a €3 million (roughly $3.9 million) investment to expand Novasep’s highly potent API manufacturing capacity at its facility in Le Mans, France, was announced in July.
Novasep says it has been a pioneer of continuous chromatography for pharmaceutical manufacturing, and its SMB and Varicol® processes are used for the commercial scale production of several chiral APIs. The new plant will enable the production of highly purified API from a complex mixture, and include the largest Varicol systems yet to be constructed.
“Demand for Novasep’s advanced, purification-based manufacturing capabilities in the life science industries continues to increase as drugs in development and reaching the market become more complex and scientific,” states Patrick Glaser, Novasep president and CEO. “This successful project, the world’s largest chromatography plant in the pharmaceutical industry, demonstrates the validity of the Novasep strategy, which is based on the combination of synthesis, biosynthesis, and purification.”
