New investment will increase number of employees at the Centre of Excellence by almost 25% and adds approx. 1,000m2 of new laboratory space
Copenhagen, Denmark and Zagreb, Croatia, 27 September 2016 - Xellia Pharmaceuticals (‘Xellia’), a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on providing important anti-infective treatments against serious and often life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections, has significantly expanded its Product and Innovation R&D team with more than 15 new scientists and added approx. 1,000m2 of new lab space at its purpose-built Centre of Excellence in Zagreb, Croatia.
Xellia’s portfolio includes both difficult to develop and manufacture fermentation-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) as well as sterile Finished Dosage Forms (FDFs). Many of these anti-infectives are of last resort and therefore play a vital role in tackling resistant microbes, often when all other treatments have failed.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world’s most serious threats to human health. There is a very real need for new treatment options. The Zagreb innovation team is dedicated to finding these solutions, from improving the efficacy, safety and delivery of existing anti-infectives, and reducing toxic side effects, to developing novel drug-device combination antimicrobial therapies. The team is also working to support the discovery and formulation of new chemical entities effective against resistant microbes, with novel modes of action.
Carl-Åke Carlsson, CEO, Xellia said: “While generic anti-infective APIs and FDFs are, and will continue to be, a core backbone of Xellia’s business, our investment in the expansion of the Product and Innovation Centre of Excellence highlights our commitment to developing a more balanced portfolio of more innovative and proprietary anti-infective products. The investment is timely in the wake of the escalating scale of the antimicrobial resistance crisis and even now we are starting to see steady progress in the form of an early stage pipeline of novel drug products and compounds.”
Dr Aleksandar Danilovski, CSO and Vice President Global R&D, Xellia, and Managing Director of the Zagreb site said; “This recent expansion increases our total investment in innovation-driven R&D activities in Croatia to over 200 MHRK (over 30 MUSD) since the Centre was established in 2011. Xellia’s global R&D growth strategy is rooted in a culture of innovation with a deep understanding of the ever changing regulatory and business environment.
“With its strong pharmaceutical heritage, Zagreb has been the ideal site for establishing and then growing an expert, specialist team of around 100 scientists. Our team is dedicated to providing innovative solutions and developing differentiated anti-infective products, to tackle the increasing global healthcare problem of antimicrobial resistance.”
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Notes To Editors
About Xellia
Xellia Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on providing important anti-infective treatments against serious and often life-threatening infections. With over 100 years of experience Xellia is a leading developer, manufacturer and trusted supplier of fermented and semi-synthetic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Injectable Finished Dosage Forms (FDFs) to the pharmaceutical industry. The Company has growing sales in more than 70 countries to over 500 customers across the healthcare industry. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Xellia has global facilities including operational and manufacturing capabilities in Denmark, USA, Hungary and China, and currently employs over 1,200 people.
Xellia is a leading supplier of vancomycin and colistimethate sodium (CMS) which together combat life-threatening, multi-drug resistant bacterial infections across Gram-positive and Gram-negative species. Xellia is also developing novel antibiotics effective against MDR Gram-negative bacteria in a development project with SINTEF Materials and Chemistry (Trondheim) and the Statens Serum Institut (Copenhagen), supported by a grant from the Research Council of Norway. Since July 2013, Xellia has been wholly owned by Novo A/S, the holding Company of the Novo Group.
Further information about Xellia can be found at: www.xellia.com.
