Roquette, a provider of naturally-derived pharmaceutical excipients, has announced plans to open a site in the US to advance the research of delivery systems for prescription drugs. Located in Pennsylvania, the facility aims to serve the company’s global customer base by working with its specialist pharmaceutical teams at sister sites in Singapore and France.
“The recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of continued collaboration in the global healthcare community to bring innovative new products and services to fruition,” said Paul Smaltz, VP of Pharmaceutical Solutions at Roquette. “We’re proud to play a role in the advancement of treatments that help improve, sustain and save lives – and this Innovation Center is the next step in providing an even greater level of support to customers looking to push the boundaries of R&D and progress new product developments to market quickly. As an important hub for innovation in the US, Pennsylvania is the ideal location to enable us to collaborate more effectively with our partners and help address important future nutrition and health challenges with next-level, premium solutions.”
The $25m investment will reinforce the group’s position in the pharmaceutical market, financing an Applied Sciences facility, which will research excipients for oral dosage forms, drug delivery systems, nutraceutical APIs and pharmaceutical ingredients. This will sit alongside its customer technical services (CTS) laboratory, with the aim of enabling collaboration with customers formulating drugs. There will also be access to an auditorium on-site, where monthly symposiums and customer training will take place, helping industry professionals stay up-to-date with the latest pharmaceutical science and developments. The facility will employ approximately 30 people including 20 scientists.
“45% of drugs developed globally come from the US. Expanding our operations in this market is therefore key to achieving Roquette’s strong growth ambitions for its pharma business,” said Roquette CEO, Pierre Courduroux. “The new facility reflects Roquette’s commitment to the region and the wider scientific community, while also representing a key milestone in our goal to becoming the number one trusted formulation and technology partner for its customers. Through the investment, we aim to solidify our global leadership position and ability to address the world’s most pressing nutrition and health challenges.”
