RALEIGH — A Japanese-backed pharmaceutical group has acquired a Food and Drug Administration-approved manufacturing site in Raleigh on Capital Boulevard, its first in the United States.
Tokyo-based Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. and Illinois-based Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc. — the latter is held by Nichi-Iko Group — purchased the two-building property from Xellia Pharmaceuticals.
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
“In addition to complementing our historic partner-based supply model with internal manufacturing capabilities,” said Sagent CEO Peter Kaemmerer, “the Raleigh site will enable production of lyophilized formulations of our future biosimilar product offerings.”
Lyophilization is a freeze drying process that removes water from a product through the use of a vacuum, bypassing the liquid phase between the transformation of a solid to a vapor.
According to the release, Nichi-Iko is one Japan’s largest generic drug manufacturers by sales. Purchased in 2016 by Nichi-Iko, Sagent is a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on injectable products within the North American market.
“We applaud this acquisition as another big step forward for Nichi-Iko and Sagent,” says Nichi-Iko President and CEO Yuichi Tamura, “further strengthening our competitiveness and capabilities in the U.S. market.”
This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism
