Pharma Action Opens Crude Heparin Factory

The opening ceremony for Pharma Action's new factory located in the Aurea industrial park took place earlier this week. The factory, which will produce the pharmaceutical intermediate crude heparin, will start production in the 4th Quarter of 2014. This will signify the possibility to process around 60% of Europe's traceable heparin raw material in Germany. Toennies, a global company with many years of experience and expertise in the meat industry, fulfills all international requirements with respect to quality and hygiene. This expertise also ensures the complete traceability of the heparin raw material (pig intestinal mucosa). The opening was attended by Garrelt Duin, Northrhine-Westphalia's Minister for Economic Affairs, as well as numerous mayors and other political and economic decision makers.

Northrhine-Westphalia's Minister for Economic Affairs Garrelt Duin praised the collaboration between Toennies and Pharma Action: "The opening of the Pharma Action Aurea factory is a good example of how companies with different focuses can come together to exploit synergy effects to enter into new markets. The collaboration between Toennies and Pharma Action is an innovative accomplishment, which gives a boost to the economy in Ostwestfalen."

The event concluded with a keynote lecture about heparin and its medicinal applications given by Professor Dr Susanne Alban, Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology and head of the Pharmaceutical Institute at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel. Her talk summarised current ressearch on the area and gave a perspective on relevant topics for the industrial manufacture of heparin.