Roquette announces plans to build US-based pharmaceutical innovation center

Image courtesy of Roquette

Roquette (La Madeleine, France) announced its plans to open a new Innovation Center in the United States to further the advancement of prescription drugs. The Spring House, Pennsylvania-based state-of-the-art facility aims to better serve Roquette’s global customer base by working closely with specialist pharmaceutical teams based at sister sites in Singapore and France. Together, their goal is to advance the research of drug delivery systems for oral prescription drugs and nutraceutical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), while also improving speed to market.

“The recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of continued collaboration in the global healthcare community to bring innovative new products and services to fruition,” says Paul Smaltz, vice president of Pharmaceutical Solutions at Roquette, in a press release. “We’re proud to play a role in the advancement of treatments that help improve, sustain and save lives – and this Innovation Center is the next step in providing an even greater level of support to customers looking to push the boundaries of R&D and progress new product developments to market quickly. As an important hub for innovation in the US, Pennsylvania is the ideal location to enable us to collaborate more effectively with our partners and help address important future nutrition and health challenges with next-level, premium solutions.”

A $25 million investment, the new Innovation Center will house an Applied Sciences facility that will focus on the research of excipients for oral dosage forms, drug delivery systems, nutraceutical APIs, and innovative pharmaceutical ingredients. Alongside the Applied Sciences facility will be a Customer Technical Services Laboratory to deepen collaboration with customers formulating drugs in new product pipelines. The new facility will employ approximately 30 people, including 20 skilled scientists.

“45% of drugs developed globally come from the US. Expanding our operations in this market is therefore key to achieving Roquette’s strong growth ambitions for its pharma business,” explains Roquette’s CEO, Pierre Courduroux. “The new facility reflects Roquette’s commitment to the region and the wider scientific community, while also representing a key milestone in our goal to becoming the number one trusted formulation and technology partner for its customers. Through the investment, we aim to solidify our global leadership position and ability to address the world’s most pressing nutrition and health challenges.”

The 23,000 square foot facility is due to open in the Summer of 2022 and will house Roquette Pharmaceutical Solutions’ headquarters.