Press Room

Press Release / Nov 11, 2021

Hovione invests $170 million in new capacity and capabilities

Hovione, the global leader in spray drying and particle engineering, today announced that it is expanding its industrial facilities around the world to support its ambitious growth objectives

Jean-Luc and Guy Villax at CPhI Hovione's booth in Milan | Hovione the global leader in spray drying and particle engineering

Jean-Luc Herbeaux, COO, and Guy Villax, CEO at CPhI Worldwide, in Milan.

 

Milan, 10th November, 2021 – Hovione, the global leader in spray drying and particle engineering, today announced that it is expanding its industrial facilities around the world to support its ambitious growth objectives. The company has been on an expansion track since 2016 in Portugal, Ireland and New Jersey with the aim of continuing to increase its capacity and capabilities to address customer needs.

 

The announcement of a $170 million investment in Hovione units in Portugal, Ireland, and New Jersey, leading to a global capacity increase of approximately 25%, was made at CPhI Worldwide, in Milan, by Guy Villax, CEO, and Jean-Luc Herbeaux, COO. 

 

These investments will be used to support growth in the company´s pharma custom development and manufacturing service business, fueled by strongly growing demand for Hovione´s integrated and differentiated services in drug substance manufacturing, particle engineering and most recently drug product manufacturing. The expansion will go hand-in-hand with a build-up of Hovione´s global team with the creation of more than 300 new jobs globally. This strategy will allow the company to continue to address difficult-to-meet client needs while reinforcing its commitment to the Hovione values and standard of quality.

 

In the USA, Hovione will add a 2900m2 building next to its current facility in East Windsor, New Jersey, laying the foundations for a state-of-the-art Hovione Campus. The upcoming cycle of investment will bring additional commercial spray drying capacity online by 2023. Further investments will follow with the aim to solidify the company´s integrated offer: API - Particle - Drug Product in the region. This expansion will allow Hovione to accompany existing and new customers favoring US-based manufacturing through their development cycles all the way to commercial.

 

The capacity and capabilities of Hovione´s Cork site in the Republic of Ireland will also be upgraded to enable the production of Highly Potent Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (HPAPI) and to facilitate onboarding of Drug Substance Manufacturing projects of all sizes. The investment will create an ecosystem in which large customer projects with unique technologies can find a home by connecting to the existing infrastructure and equipment. The site will also receive a new commercial size spray dryer to support the growing demand for particle engineering services. 

 

In Portugal, Hovione is ready to start operations of its most recent facility with an increase in chemical synthesis capacity for High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (HPAPI). The building is also prepared to receive a new commercial spray dryer to respond to the future needs of the global drug market.

 

“Hovione is in it for life and what better way to manifest this than through expansion of our global capacity and capabilities. Our sustainable organic growth strategy will allow us to keep true to those values that have been guiding us for more than 60 years”, says Guy Villax, Chief Executive Officer.

 

“These investments reinforce our integrated specialized offer globally, providing our clients with a line of sight for their projects. Focus is placed on facilitating and speeding up the drug development cycle and launch, by providing API manufacturing, Particle Engineering and Tableting services in each site. Our strategy continues to be to grow organically via investments in our existing sites, which are designed for purpose. This reduces the complexity associated with the growth journey and allows us to focus our management attention on what counts most, i.e. guaranteeing that our clients go to market with quality, safe and effective medicines for their patients” says Jean-Luc Herbeaux, Hovione’s Chief Operation Officer.

 

About Hovione: Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience as a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and is currently a fully integrated supplier offering services for drug substancedrug product intermediate and drug product. With four FDA inspected sites in the USA, China, Ireland and Portugal and development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey, USA, the company provides branded pharmaceutical customers services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs including highly potent compounds. For generic pharmaceutical customers the company offers niche API products. In the inhalation area, Hovione is the only independent company offering a complete range of services. Hovione is a company with a culture based on innovation, quality and delivery. Hovione is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards. 

 

 

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In an interview with Executiva, a portuguese media outlet focused on women´s leadership, Diane Villax, co-founder and long-standing leader of Hovione, reflects on her journey and the company’s development over more than six decades. Diane Villax’s career began at a time when few women worked outside the home. At 19, she joined a trading company as a foreign languages correspondent, where she developed essential business skills — including commercial correspondence, banking and export procedures — that later proved instrumental in helping her husband, Ivan Villax, establish Hovione in 1959. From its earliest days operating in the family home in Lisbon, Hovione adopted an international outlook. The company’s first major customers were in Japan, setting demanding quality standards that helped shape its long-term position in global markets. Over the following decades, Hovione expanded its footprint with the construction of its first manufacturing site in Loures (1969), followed by expansion to Macau (1986), the United States (New Jersey, early 2000s) and Ireland (Cork). The company grew into a global organization with more than 2,500 employees — including over 300 scientists — and a reputation as a preferred supplier to leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Throughout the interview, Diane highlights the values that have guided the company’s development: a commitment to excellence, a strong work ethic, and a focus on quality and long-term relationships. Although she did not have formal business training, she learned “on the job” and brought discipline, precision and structure to her role — particularly in the company’s early financial and administrative leadership. Now in her nineties and an active member of Hovione’s Board of Directors, Diane Villax remains engaged with the company’s evolution and governance, reflecting a continued commitment to its long-term development. Her story reflects entrepreneurial drive, resilience and long-term leadership — and offers insight into the values that have shaped Hovione’s trajectory for more than six decades. Read the full interview at Executiva.pt (in portuguese).    

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