Pfizer has formed a manufacturing pact with Medochemie, a Limassol, Cyprus-based generics pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company, under which Medochemie will be manufacturing select Pfizer medicines in Vietnam. The companies announced the agreement for technology transfer last month (January 2019).

Medochemie has three manufacturing facilities in Vietnam, which have a total area of 63,500 square meters and which are located in Ho Chi Minh, Binh Duong Province. One facility was built to produce solid dosage forms with an initial capacity of 2 billion tablets and 600 million capsules per year. The other two manufacturing plants are designed for the production of gels, creams, ointments, syrups, and injectable cephalosporins (powder for injection/infusion), according to company information. The products to be manufactured for Pfizer are in the therapeutic areas of anti-infectives, cardiovascular, and pain management.

Overall, Medochemie had 13 manufacturing facilities. In addition to three facilities in Vietnam, it has nine facilities in Cyprus and one in the Netherlands, which produce a variety of dosage forms, including oral dosage and injectable cephalosporins.

Pfizer had 58 manufacturing sites worldwide as of year-end 2017, according to the company’s 2017 annual filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The locations of its major manufacturing facilities include Belgium, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the US.

Pfizer’s pact with Medochemie in Vietnam is for manufacturing to serve local markets, and Medochemie offered the possibility of further collaboration. “Pfizer brings its global technology and operations platform of hard-to-make products, such as sterile injectables, to Vietnam, helping to raise local manufacturing standards to that of the international developed markets,” according to a January 10, 2019 Medochemie statement. “The success of this first event and the untapped potential for the organization signals the beginning of a new era and paves the way for more initiatives to follow.”

Source: Medochemie