Patheon Takes Over Roche's North Carolina Facility, Saving 200 Jobs

November 29, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

FLORENCE, S.C. – North Carolina-based Patheon N.V. struck a deal with Roche Holdings to take over a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in South Carolina as part of an effort to expand its own pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. The deal is expected to save about 200 positions at the facility.

Patheon , a third-party drug development company, acquired the 1,100 acre, 300,000 square-foot facility for “an immaterial sum” as well as the cost of associated inventory and spare parts, the company said this morning. In addition to the site acquisition, Patheon said it has entered into a multi-year supply arrangement with Roche , which should defray the costs associated with running the site for the next few years. Patheon said it will add additional “client work” to the Florence site. The new Patheon site will give the company manufacturing capacity for active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) ranging from development to manufacturing services. The new site will allow Patheon to expand its capacity for manufacturing highly potent compounds, and adds capabilities to support solid-state chemistry, micronization and eventually, commercial spray drying, the company said this morning. The site features reactors ranging from 50-11,000 liters producing multiple products simultaneously, fully compliant with all applicable regulations, such as current Good Manufacturing Practices safety and environmental standards.

Roche is divesting itself of the property as part of a corporate restructuring program that includes vacating four manufacturing sites in the United States, which includes the Florence site. The closing of the four sites will displace approximately 1,200 employees as part of a restructuring effort for the manufacturing of its small molecule products. Roche said it was hoping to mitigate job losses by looking for divestment opportunities, as opposed to immediately planning to close the sites. The closures are expected to continue through 2021.

There are about 200 people currently employed at the Florence site. Over time, Patheon expects the Florence facility to have a similar financial profile to its other sites in its drug substance segment.

Patheon, a provider of commercial manufacturing outsourcing services and outsourced pharmaceutical development services, operates 20 commercial-scale production facilities around the world, employing roughly 8,000 people. The company posted about $1.8 billion in revenue last year.

“As the only end-to-end provider of pharma development and manufacturing services, Patheon is uniquely positioned to integrate this new site into our global network and quickly leverage the capabilities with existing and new clients,” said James Mullen, CEO of Patheon. “The company will benefit from the additional North American API capacity and adds a state-of-the-art facility with approximately 200 scientific and manufacturing professionals.”

Roche told The State the deal could be closed within a 30 day period, but has a target date of the end of January 2017.