Rick Mullin interviews Frédéric Kahn at CPhI North America.

Frédéric Kahn

VP Sales and Marketing

Degree in Economics, MBA

Hovione, which has likewise added services, including spray drying and finished-dose form manufacturing, in the past two years, continues to invest both at its headquarters in Loures, Portugal, and at its technology center in East Windsor, N.J.

The company spent about $100 million in 2017 and plans to invest as much again this year and next, according to Vice President for Sales and Marketing Frédéric Kahn. Hovione opened a 7,000-m2 development services center at its main manufacturing facility in Loures, equipped to handle highly potent compounds. With 200 people hired over the past three years, the site now employs a staff of 1,600. Hovione may hire another 200, Kahn said.

In New Jersey, the company is in the process of doubling chemistry and analytical service capacity and will begin operating a continuous tableting facility this month.

Kahn says Hovione is interested in offering one-site shopping in Portugal and New Jersey.

The plan over the next three years is to continue investment, especially in Portugal, Kahn said, where the firm will add 165 m3 of chemical synthesis capacity, a spray-dryer building, and a 1,200-m3 analytical lab.

“This is capacity that we are going to have to sell,” Kahn acknowledged, “but we pursued it by listening to our customers—by understanding what their requirements are in terms of API, formulation, solubility enhancements, and continuous tableting.”

Kahn declined to call the added services a push toward the one-stop-shop model. Rather, he said, the firm will now offer one-site, full-supply-chain service in both Portugal and New Jersey.

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