Vetter Pharma Nears Completion of First U.S. Fill-and-Finish Plant

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Germany's Vetter Pharma, which specializes in aseptically prefilled drug-delivery systems, is entering the final stretch of construction on a 25,000-square-foot production facility at the Illinois Science +Technology Park in Skokie, Illinois.

Vetter launched its presence in the U.S. in 1983, with the opening of a marketing office in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Following the opening of a sales and marketing office last year at the Skokie site (replacing Yardley), the company soon will complete construction of its inaugural U.S. production plant.

Operating under "Vetter Pharma USA," the plant will offer clinical-scale fill-and-finish capacity on a contract basis. An estimated two-thirds of drug products in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials are in North America; as a result, reportedly half of Vetter's customers are based in North America. The Skokie site, which is just outside Chicago, offers access to a major airport, with direct rail service being added.

Production will be conducted in three clean-room areas. One will feature a semi-automated filling line for a variety of packaging forms, ranging from vials to dual-chamber syringes, and will be capable of filling 500 to 600 items per batch, for Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. Another clean room will house a Bosch filling system, which is new to the market, introduced only last year and prized for its precise control. The remaining clean room will feature a filling line dedicated to higher quantities of single-chamber syringes.

The Illinois Science + Technology Park was previously owned by Pfizer Incorporated (NYSE:PFE) (New York, New York) and is now owned by Forest City Enterprises (NYSE:FCE-A) (Cleveland, Ohio). Bulley & Andrews LLC (Chicago, Illinois), with its Meyne division, is handling construction of the $12 million project, which will include the addition of microbiology and quality control laboratories. Construction is expected by the end of the year.

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