Contract Packaging

Accuristix has acquired Nova Pack Ltd., a contract packaging, repackaging, and assembly provider for over-the-counter (OTC), health and beauty, healthcare, and pharmaceutical products. Accuristix is a third-party logistics company currently operating four distribution centers in the Toronto Area, with others in Vancouver and Los Angeles. The acquisition allows both companies to offer a broader scope of services to the Canadian healthcare marketplace.

PrePak Holdings Inc. (Cookeville, TN) has acquired TestPak (Whippany, NJ), a contract packaging company active in the pharmaceutical, nutritional, and consumer products markets. PrePak Holdings, a group of companies focused on contract manufacturing and packaging, completed the acquisition on August 31.

PrePak Holdings Inc. announces that it has named Renard Jackson to serve as the company’s new chief executive officer and president. PrePak serves mid- to large-sized companies in the pharmaceutical, nutritional, consumer product, medical device, and animal health markets. With FDA-registered and cGMP compliant facilities, PrePak subsidiaries include PrePak Systems, Celeste Contract Manufacturing and Packaging, and Integrated Pharmaceutical Packaging.

Comar Inc. (Buena, NJ) announced that on Fri., April 16, 2010 it finalized a transaction acquiring 100% of Universal Container Corp.'s (Unicon) assets from its current shareholders. Based in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Unicon is a leading manufacturer of high quality injection molded, injection blow molded, and extrusion blow molded parts and containers. Comar, based in Buena, New Jersey, is a manufacturer of proprietary pharmaceutical packaging with a leadership position in the Liquid Medication Delivery Device Market. The transaction closed on April 16, 2010 and the terms were not disclosed.

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) presented its first Distribution Management Award to AmerisourceBergen Packaging Group (ABPG) and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for its Toviaz Physician Sample Package Optimization project. The package was a redesigned format that enabled Pfizer to deliver the samples efficiently and to encourage patient compliance.

According to a new technical market research report from BCC Research (Wellesley, MA), the global market for contract pharmaceuticals is worth an estimated $177 billion in 2009, and is expected to increase to $299 billion in 2014, for a 5-year compound annual growth rate of 11.1%. The report, entitled “Contract Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing, Research, and Packaging,” examines the different types of contracting companies in the pharmaceuticals industry.

Vetter is developing a new 24,000-sq-ft facility at the Illinois Science + Technology Park in Skokie, IL, to support biopharmaceutical companies interesed in accelerating development and controling costs. Vetter, a contract manufacturer, produces high-quality, aseptically prefilled injection systems including syringes, vials, and injection pens. The company mainly fills and finishes complex compounds indicated for conditions such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.

Scientists from Catalent Pharma Solutions will be presenting seven scientific poster papers and participating in a roundtable discussion at this year’s American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) meeting as part of the conference proceedings. The 2009 Annual AAPS Meeting and Exposition will take place on November 9-12 in Los Angeles, CA. Catalent is a sustaining sponsor of AAPS.

Lisa Hawkins is the newest addition to the management team at Unicep Packaging Inc. (Sandpoint, Idaho). Ms. Hawkins now serves as the company’s director of quality. Ms. Hawkins joins Unicep Packaging from a former role at Celeste Contract Packaging L.L.C. (Easton, Md.). She brings more than four years of experience in all phases of medical device and pharmaceutical quality and regulatory affairs to the company.