Ipsen to invest Euro 55m at French pharma development centre

Speciality pharmaceutical group Ipsen is planning to strengthen its manufacturing facility and its pharmaceutical development centre located in Dreux in France. By 2011 Ipsen will have invested Euro 55m and plans to create 85 new jobs, including 15 r&d positions.

This scheme will allow Ipsen to bolster its r&d in Dreux by focusing the site on three strategic activities: formulation, analytical development and manufacturing of batches intended for the preclinical and clinical research.

Two new buildings will be built by 2009, while a third building will be renovated. Additionally, a large investment programme will be implemented in Dreux, Ipsen's main manufacturing and supply unit, to support growing international sales.

'By selecting Dreux as its international centre of formulation and pharmaceutical development, Ipsen chose to reinforce its investments in France, a country that features exceptional intellectual, human, technological and scientific assets in the worldwide pharmaceutical arena,' said Jean-Luc Belingard, Ipsen's chairman and ceo. 'Our Dreux facility, the Group's historical location, will be an important platform for our international development.'

Mainly focused on the manufacture and worldwide supply of drugs, Ipsen's facility at Dreux has 580 employees and includes a factory manufacturing 911 million sachets, 767 million tablets, 362 million capsules, 72.5 millions packs per year; a supply unit distributing more than 10,000 tons of drugs in 82 countries; and a formulation and pharmaceutical development unit.