Recipharm kits out Lisbon plant in latest stage of serilization tech roll out
The Swedish contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) has added four packaging lines at the facility. It said the expansion is part of its €40m, network-wide investment in serialisation capacity, adding that it plans to set up an additional seven lines at the site by 2018.
Serialization has been a focus for regulatory agencies the world over in recent years.
Both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are introducing new requirements that will force manufacturers to mark their products so that they can be tracked through supply chains.
China, Korea and Argentina have also rolled out rules designed to facilitate traceability.
Similarly, regulators in smaller markets – Saudi Arabia, for example – have also introduced serialization rules for pharmaceutical products.
Staffan Widengren, head of the global steering committee for Recipharm’s serialisation project, said: “Recipharm recognised the complexity of implementing serialisation at a very early stage and so we’ve been preparing for the new regulations in the US and Europe for a long time now.
“The Lisbon facility brings us to over a third of the way through our implementation project and is an important milestone in our journey.”
Recipharm also announced it will add similar capacity at its facility in Brescia, Italy.
