West Dedicates Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in India

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has dedicated its manufacturing plant in the Sri City Special Economic Zone (SEZ), where the company will expand its growing primary packaging for injectable medicines business.

"West is experiencing a very exciting period of growth and business expansion in Asia and we are proud to open our first facility in India," said Donald E. Morel, Jr, West's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "With more and more pharmaceutical customers establishing operations in India, our new plant will help West meet market demand and further establishes the company's presence in this growing and dynamic market.

"On behalf of West's Board of Directors, I would like to thank the many representatives of the Indian government for their support throughout the planning process. This new facility in Sri City will allow West to continue to satisfy the needs of our customers, who are serving a growing number of patients in India and the Asia Pacific region."

In June 2012, West signed a 99-year lease on 72,800 m2 of land in Sri City. Sri City offers the advantages of a metropolitan location and was selected primarily on the suitability of land, availability of utilities, labour suitability, logistics and quality of life.

Construction began in August 2012 on a 15,300 m2 facility that will produce seals used in primary packaging of injectable medicines manufactured by West's pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers in India and the wider Asia Pacific region. There are future plans to expand production at the site to include West's elastomer component business.

"This investment is important to our strategy of partnering with customers in India and the Asia Pacific region to help them provide medicines to patients more efficiently, reliably and safely," said Warwick Bedwell, President, Pharmaceutical Packaging Systems, Asia Pacific Region. "With the facility complete, we anticipate a reduction in lead times for supply to our customers in India. By leveraging our global sourcing activities and process engineering expertise, we expect to be able to carefully manage the overall costs of production."

West's presence in the Asia Pacific market includes a plant in Singapore, two plants in Qingpu, China and sales offices in Australia, China, India and Singapore. West also owns 25% of Daikyo Seiko, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. Daikyo Seiko, founded in 1954, is a leader in the fields of pharmaceutical packaging and medical device components. The West/Daikyo relationship was formed in 1973 and includes joint marketing agreements and technology transfer and licensing agreements.