Pharmaceutical outsourcing services provider, PCI Pharma Services (PCI), intends to acquire Australia-based Pharmaceutical Packaging Professionals (PPP). The acquisition of PPP, a leading provider of clinical trial manufacturing, packaging, storage and distribution services, establishes a presence for PCI in Australia, viewed as pivotal to continued growth and expansion in the Asia Pacific region.
Australia is one of the leading countries for Phase I studies globally and with this acquisition, PPP’s Phase I offering also enables PCI to better support customers from early phases of clinical development through to commercial launch.
Located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, PPP is a recognised leader in clinical trial supply with a comprehensive suite of support services including early clinical phase sterile and non-sterile drug manufacture of investigational medicines, packaging and labelling services for investigational products, as well as logistical services including storage and distribution to global sites.
PPP’s expertise supports projects across a range of temperature conditions including controlled room temperature, 2-8˚C, -20˚C and -80˚C environments, which expands PCI’s existing capabilities in storing, packaging and shipping cold chain products.
Experiencing significant demand for its services, PPP is currently undertaking a facility expansion and upgrade to add additional storage and distribution services, labelling and packaging rooms, Grade D manufacturing as well as sterile-fill manufacturing capabilities for Phase II clinical studies.
PPP’s suite of services complements PCI’s expansive global portfolio of clinical and commercial services, including clinical and commercial scale drug manufacturing, packaging and labelling of clinical trial medicines, global logistical services to investigational sites and commercial contract packaging services.
PPP’s strong market presence with Phase I units as well as the company’s geographic reach and experience working with US, European, and Asia Pacific customers in countries including China, Korea, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand, will allow PCI to continue to grow its capabilities in the region.
Bill Mitchell, President and CEO of PCI Pharma Services, said: “The addition of PPP is significant for our continued global expansion.”
The Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, is a very attractive and growing segment in the clinical trials market. Our customers continue to seek new markets both for execution of their clinical studies as well as partners that can support them through the supply chain.
“The addition of PPP will mark PCI’s fifth acquisition outside of the US in five years, which underscores PCI’s continued commitment to growth and geographic expansion.”
“This opportunity is part of our next logical phase of geographic expansion and enables us to support our customers in their long term global growth strategies. Additionally, PPP’s highly experienced management team has a strong track record in the clinical trials marketplace and we are excited to welcome them to PCI.”
PPP’s Founder and CEO, Craig Rogers, said: “We look forward to joining PCI given its market leading presence and believe PPP’s Phase I offering and Asia Pacific location provides for a powerful combination and strong synergies. I am excited for my new role as Senior VP of PCI Asia Pacific and supporting our customers in this expanding region.”
In October of 2017, PCI announced the acquisition of pharmaceutical and healthcare contract packaging services provider Millmount Healthcare, based in Dublin, Ireland, located in the European Union. The move added four Dublin based facilities to PCI’s global supply network and provided a continued growth platform for PCI’s expansion, furthering its commitment to be the partner of choice to meet the global market needs of its customers in delivering lifesaving medicines to patients around the world.
In addition to global acquisitions, PCI has been actively investing in its core business through a number of key investments and site expansions. PCI announced cold chain and ultra cold chain expansions at its US based Philadelphia and Rockford locations in support of temperature controlled packaging, storage and distribution.
PCI has also undertaken site expansions of its Tredegar and Bridgend facilities in the UK. New packaging lines have been installed in its commercial packaging business, as well industry leading expansion of its global capacity in serialisation and anticounterfeiting technologies.
These investments support the recent US DSCSA and EU FMD regulations, as well as advancing serialisation requirements in emerging market regions such as China, South Korea, Turkey, Brazil and others.
