DPT invests $15m in Texas manufacturing centre
The US contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) invested $15m (€12m) in the facility, adding two bulk production areas and three filling lines.
The expansion project also added a clinical-scale pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDI) production unit to compliment the existing 5547 sq m of dedicated large-scale manufacturing space already at the facility.
The San Antonio unit is one of three newly restructured “Centers of Excellence” that DPT established earlier this year in a bid to increase the efficiency of its manufacturing operations.
The CDMO’s sterile and specialty products manufacturing unit, in Lakewood, New Jersey, was given a $30m transformation in April. That project added microbiology laboratory, sterility and endotoxin testing capacity as well as environmental monitoring capabilities to existing manufacturing capacity.
A DPT spokesman Outsourcing-pharma spoke with when the "Centers of Excellence" project was announced explained that the wider manufacturing reorganisation had been motivated by a “focus on specific client needs and the ability to provide customer service from personnel who are experts within a specialized area.”
This sentiment was echoed in a statement accompanying news of the San Antonio expansion by company VP of operations Mark Fite who said: “As DPT continues to grow, we always seek opportunities to increase efficiencies.”
Fite added that: “This investment provides us with expanded capacity, capabilities and ultimately more flexibility for our customers” that will enable “high-speed, cost-effective manufacturing runs.”
The company has not said whether it plans to undertake a similar capacity expansion at its R&D centre, also in San Antonio, although such a move would clearly be in keeping with its recent strategy.
