Dive Brief:
- Pfizer Inc has sold its Boulder, CO manufacturing facility to CDMO CordenPharma, shedding a legacy Hospira site it had flagged for closure last summer.
- CordenPharma said it will also enter into a multi-year supply agreement with Pfizer that will help offset operational costs for the first few years — an arrangement typical when pharma companies divest older production sites.
- The 54,000 square foot facility primarily manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients, with production capabilities ranging as high as 3,000 liters.
Dive Insight:
Since its acquisition of Hospira in 2015, Pfizer has been trimming its production base, flagging several sites for closure and selling off others. This past August, for example, Pfizer sold a sterile manufacturing facility in Liscate, Italy to Avara Pharmaceutical Services.
The deal with CordenPharma will transfer over 100 employees to the CDMO, which has been expanding over the past decade.
Pfizer had previously said it would seek to exit the site by 2019, so the sale to CordenPharma brings that review to a sooner-than-anticipated close.
While buying Hospira added even more bulk to the pharma giant, the legacy manufacturing sites acquired in the deal have given Pfizer some headaches.
Compliance issues at a McPherson, Kansas plant led to a surprise rejection of the drugmaker's Epogen biosimilar in June — although Pfizer CEO Ian Read has said the company has made progress in bringing the site up to code.