Catalent adding OTC capsule maker Accucaps to global softgel network
Accucaps Industries Limited is an Ontario, Canada-based producer of mostly over-the-counter softgel products, but today contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent has announced it is buying the firm for an undisclosed fee.
The deal adds two facilities in Windsor and Strathroy, Ontario with blistering, bottling and other packaging capabilities to Catalent’s softgel network which – once the deal goes through – will total 13 plants globally.
“Significant investments already made by Accucaps align well with Catalent’s own strategic goals, to offer our customers access to more products, capacity, and integrated solutions for differentiated products and better treatments,” said Aris Gennadios, Catalent’s president of Softgel Technologies.
Accucaps added a hi-tech R&D lab to the Strthroy plant in 2013, and the following year added a $5m specialty products suite at the Windsor site. According to the firm’s website, there is capacity to make 7-10 billion soft gelatin capsules annually across the two sites.
While Catalent has been looking to grow its specialised and biologics businesses, the softgel sector remains part of the firm’s core oral technologies business which has seen a string of investments over the past few years.
In 2015, the firm expanded its Eberbach, Germany site, which was fully acquired from Gelita in February 2012. The CDMO has also made softgel acquisitions in Brazil and China over the past few years.
However, over the past 12 months the softgel business has suffered from issues relating to a regulatory suspension at a facility in Beinheim, France, while the company’s Florida, US facility received an FDA 483 in March.
