Dive Brief:
- Avara Pharmaceuticals entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to purchase the British pharma's manufacturing facility at Avlon, Avonmouth, England.
- The 210 employees at the Avlon site will continue to work there and manufacture AstraZeneca's drugs, but on a contract basis.
- AstraZeneca will continue to source its products from the facility under ownership of Avara. Supply of drugs is not expected to be disrupted.
Dive Insight:
Pharma companies are increasingly relying on contract manufacturers to produce their products as they cut down on costs and rely on outsourcing for this key component of their production process.
The site in the UK will be the fifth in a network of facilities that Avara owns, including plants in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Ireland.
Earlier this summer, the contract pharmaceutical manufacturer acquired another plant in Norman, Oklahoma, which it bought from Japanese company Astellas Pharma. Similar to the agreement with AstraZeneca, it retained the employees and manufactures drugs for Astellas on a contract basis.
Financial details were not disclosed for either deal.