Avantor, a global supplier of ultra-high-purity materials for the life sciences and advanced technology industries, is considering ways to grow its cGMP manufacturing facilities in Panoli, Gujarat and Dehradun, Uttarakhand over the next couple of years.
Avantor has several manufacturing units globally. Of them, two are in India.
The Panoli plant, spread over an area of a million sq. ft., manufactures and packages a wide range of Avantor’s Macron Fine Chemicals brand of salts and solvents for the production of pharmaceuticals, and high-purity solvents for use in chromatography separations for laboratory research, drug development and discovery.
A unit dedicated to the cGMP production of high purity low endotoxin sugars had been added to the Panoli plant a few years ago.
“We are mulling over a proposal to increase our finishing and packaging capability of newer salts - sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride and varied sulphates and phosphates which are mostly used in drugs. Once these salts start getting processed and packaged at Panoli, they are going to be more accessible to Indian biosimilars and generic drug makers who are looking to export all over the world,” said Devashish Ohri, Avantor’s executive vice president for APAC and MEA. Among a number of alternatives that will be assessed by the company, he said Avantor “may also consider increasing solvent capacity at Panoli depending on demands in the future.”
The next wave of activity for the Panoli facility is under consideration. It has received approval from the Gujarat FDCA and the products produced meet pharmacopoeial requirements of India, US, Europe, UK and Japan.
“The high-quality performance materials produced at Panoli's cGMP facility cater to the needs of drug makers in India looking for quality products,” he said.
Many of the top drug players in India are Avantor’s clients. The average solvent production capacity of the plant is approximately 4 million litres/annum. Approximately 10 per cent of the total production of the company in its Panoli plant is being exported to southeast Asian countries including Thailand and Singapore. Without sharing specifics, Ohri said the global turnover of the company now stands at several billion per annum (USD) and India constitutes a significant role in the company’s global strategy.
Besides supporting generics, the company also provides end to end solutions to biotech players in the country, with offerings such as salts, sugars, solvents, buffers and purification reagents for processes ranging from cell optimisation and cell purification to product manufacturing.
As the Indian pharma and biosimilar business keeps expanding, there is a need for multi-compendia cGMP excipients. Panoli is equipped to support the demands of the life science industry in the Asia Pacific region, he opined.
With the Indian regulators pushing for all drug makers to hold high standards, more companies will be required to use cGMP excipients. The government aims to ensure quality healthcare for all. Once the healthcare quality is improved, it will not only benefit excipient manufacturers but also benefit healthcare as a whole, he added.
Another Avantor plant, spanning over an area of 130,0000 sq. ft. in Dehradun, specializes in the manufacturing, packaging and distribution of diagnostics reagents for immunology, biochemistry and hematology as well as rapid test kits. The majority of products manufactured in Dehradun are sold under the BeneSphera Diagnostic Solutions brand name. Products manufactured on-site also include an array of one-step, immunochromatographic assays to detect dengue virus, hepatitis B, HIV, malaria and syphilis.
The plant capacity is around 15 million kits/annum. To cater to growing demand for the point of testing kits in the country in the wake of a rise in malaria and dengue cases, Avantor is considering expanding capacity or otherwise enhancing the efficiency of its Dehradun plant.
A couple of months back Avantor completed an acquisition of VWR, one of the largest distributors of lab products including chemicals, microbiology products, lab equipment and services. “With the integration with VWR underway, we are starting to see the benefits of the acquisition and the enhancements to our ability to provide end to end solutions to customers so that they can focus on innovation. The deal has significant outcome for Indian customers where we can now focus on a strong portfolio of other lab products apart from high-performance.