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Press Release / Jan 17, 2023

Hovione is recognized as a Top Employer 2023

This certification is a recognition of Hovione´s resolve to put people first, and a validation that the investment in HR excellence is delivering.

Hovione wins TOP EMPLOYER 2023 award for USA, Ireland and Portugal | Hovione

January 17, 2023, the companies certified as 2023 Top Employers have just been announced and Hovione has been recognized as Top Employer in Portugal, the United States of America and Ireland, geographies that encompass 90% of Hovione´s employee population. The Hovione site in Macau was purposely not included in the evaluation due to COVID-related restrictions.  

 

This certification is a recognition of Hovione´s resolve to put people first, and a validation that the investment in HR excellence is delivering. Hovione’s People Strategy roadmap is focused on attracting and retaining the best to support the company´s business ambitions, and on providing employees and managers with a positive and rewarding work experience.

 

The Top Employers Institute program certifies organizations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey. This survey covers six domains covering 20 topics including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Wellbeing, amongst others.

 

"Receiving this certification is a great motivator for the entire organization and most particularly for our HR Team which has been focusing on establishing best practices and on delivering on our people agenda. It is the confirmation that, as an organization, we are on the right path to make the difference. We understand that while we are not yet excellent in all dimensions, we are committed to maintaining a process of continuous improvement, by putting our people at the center of everything we do, always!" - commented Ilda Ventura, Vice-President for Human Resources and Member of the Management Board at Hovione.

 

Portugal

Catarina Tendeiro, HR Senior Director for Portugal, highlights that “We are delighted to be recognized as a Top Employer. Hovione employees are our greatest asset and to know that our programs and culture meet such a high standard is illustrative of our commitment to the team. We strive to be an employer of choice through competitive pay, meaningful work, and an attractive company culture. At Hovione Portugal, our primary focus has been on attracting and retaining talent to develop our leadership capabilities. Over the last years we have increased pay levels and most recently, provided a special inflation bonus to counter the impact of inflation on our employees. These are just a few examples of how we put our employees in the center of what we do.” 

This recognition comes after Hovione received the Randstad Employer Brand Award 2022 as the most attractive company to work for in Portugal in Healthcare, ranking 5th nationally across industries.

 

 

Ireland
For Imelda Cummins, HR Director for Hovione Ireland, “This recognition underlines our belief that our people are our strongest asset and competitive advantage. At Hovione Ireland we work consistently to ensure competitive compensation and benefits, invest in the creation of a healthy work environment, promote regular wellbeing initiatives and most importantly, to improve, we listen!”

 

 

United States of America
Beth Swiezkowski, HR Senior Director for Hovione in New Jersey adds, “We are delighted to be recognized as a Top Employer. Hovione employees are our greatest asset and to know that our programs and culture meet such a high standard is illustrative of our commitment to the team. We strive to be an employer of choice through competitive pay, meaningful work, and an attractive company culture. Over the last year we have increased pay levels and most recently, provided a special inflation bonus to counter the impact of inflation on our employees. We focused on employee well-being and engaged experts to deliver programs on managing stress, nutrition, and healthy eating and provided free healthy snacks daily. A paid full week shutdown was also added to our holiday schedule to ensure employees had time to relax and rest with their families at the end of the year. These are just a few examples of how we put our employees in the center of what we do.”

 

 

 

About Hovione
Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience as a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with a fully integrated offering of services for drug substance, drug product intermediate and drug product. The company has four FDA inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China as well as development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey, USA. Hovione provides pharmaceutical customers services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs, including highly potent compounds, and customized product solution across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione offers a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and devices. Hovione´s culture is based on innovation, quality and delivery. Hovione was the first Chemical/ Pharmaceutical Company to become a Certified B Corp, is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards.

 
About Top Employers Institute
Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognising excellence in People Practices. They help accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Programme, participating companies can be validated, certified, and recognised as an employer of choice. Established over 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified 2052 organisations in 121 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 9.5 million employees globally. 

 

 

 

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The investment includes both continuous and batch tableting capabilities, as well as connect spray drying with tablet production at its East Windsor campus. Hovione, a Portugal-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), plans to install a continuous tableting line at its East Windsor, New Jersey campus, adding drug product manufacturing capacity and an integrated pathway from amorphous solid dispersion production through commercial tablet manufacturing. The $35 million investment will bring the first ConsiGma CDC Flex system to Hovione’s recently opened 89 Twin Rivers facility. The line is expected to be commissioned in late 2027 and will support both continuous and batch operation at throughputs ranging from 1 to 200 kilograms per hour, according to the announcement. The system will allow customers to use the same equipment for development, clinical, and commercial production, with formulation development possible using as little as 1.5 kilograms of material. Hovione said the line will also be equipped for containment to 1 microgram per cubic meter to support the handling of highly potent compounds. The new capability will also connect Hovione’s spray-drying operations with tablet manufacturing at the East Windsor campus. The company recently opened a 31,000-square-foot facility at the campus with two commercial-scale spray dryers for manufacturing amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs), completing a $100 million investment in its New Jersey operations. Hovione said the integrated setup will allow customers to move from formulation and particle engineering through tablet production under one quality system, reducing technology transfer requirements and eliminating traditional scale-up between development and commercial production. The ConsiGma CDC Flex platform was jointly developed with GEA as part of a collaboration that began in 2022, the company said. The system incorporates automated process controls and process analytical technology for real-time monitoring during production. Hovione already operates continuous tableting technology at its Loures, Portugal site. In August, the company completed a more than €40 million expansion of its tablet development and manufacturing center there, adding a second commercial-scale tableting line and increasing the center's manufacturing area by 25%. The East Windsor installation will extend Hovione’s continuous tableting capabilities to the U.S. and expand its integrated drug development and manufacturing services for oral solid dosage products. Read the full article at Pharma Manufacturing 

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Hovione, a globally integrated pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), will commission the world’s first ConsiGma CDC flex – a next generation continuous tableting line – at its East Windsor, New Jersey (USA) campus in late 2027. The line will be installed at 89 Twin Rivers, Hovione’s recently opened facility, expanding the company’s drug product capabilities and strengthening its integrated pharmaceutical development and manufacturing hub in the US. CDC ConsiGma flex system The project represents an investment of $35 million. Once installed it will create an integrated pathway from amorphous solid dispersion manufacturing via spray drying through commercial tablet production. The new flex will operate in continuous or batch modes across a very broad throughput range (from one to 200 kg/h). Customers will be able to develop a formulation using small quantities of material, down to 1.5 kg, and then run from very small clinical batches to large commercial batches using the same equipment. This is enabled by specialised design within the flex to effectively switch between continuous blenders of various sizes. Additionally, the line will be installed for containment to 1 µg/m³, supporting highly potent compounds. Continuous tableting is reshaping manufacturing of oral solid dosage medicines and is well suited to programmes in which speed, supply resilience and efficient use of high-value active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are priorities. Inline process analytical technology (PAT) and automated controls also provide real-time quality monitoring. In parallel, the 2022 adoption of ICH Q13 regulatory framework, guidance specifically for continuous manufacturing of drug substances and drug products, provides harmonisation across the US, Europe and Japan. As of 2024, 17 products manufactured under the international guidance have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alone.  Developed jointly with GEA, the ConsiGma CDC flex platform also incorporates SimpleCT, a suite of automation and control tools with smart interfaces that supports a single process from development to commercial supply. Designed for versatility and ease of use, these innovative developments simplify operation, improve efficiency and containment, and enhance operator safety. Read the full article at Pharma Press UK 

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Key Takeaways Commissioning a US-based ConsiGma CDC Flex line enables end-to-end spray drying-to-tablet manufacture within a single site and quality system, reducing comparability and technology-transfer burdens. Elimination of conventional scale-up is enabled by using the same equipment from early development through commercial supply, minimizing engineering runs and conserving scarce API. Operational flexibility spans batch or continuous modes and 1–200 kg/h throughput, with scale adjustment achieved by switching continuous blenders rather than replatforming processes. High-containment design to 1 µg/m³ expands suitability for highly potent oral solid-dose programs while maintaining integrated development-to-commercial workflows. Regulatory momentum for continuous manufacturing is supported by ICH Q13 harmonization, increasing FDA approvals, and platforms leveraging inline PAT and automated control suites for real-time quality assurance. Hovione announced on Oct. 5, 2026, that it will commission the ConsiGma CDC Flex, a next-generation continuous direct compression tableting platform jointly developed with GEA. The investment is designed to link amorphous solid dispersion manufacturing via spray drying with commercial tablet production at a single US site operating under one quality system. The line will run in either continuous or batch mode at throughputs from 1 to 200 kg/h. Formulation development can begin with as little as 1.5 kg of material, and the same equipment can then support everything from very small clinical batches to large commercial runs, enabled by a design that allows the system to switch between continuous blenders of different sizes. The installation will also be contained to 1 µg/m³ to accommodate highly potent compounds. "Hovione will be the first company in the world to offer the ConsiGma® CDC Flex, bringing this next-generation technology with unprecedented flexibility, simplicity and cost-efficiency in continuous tableting," said Marco Gil and António Almeida, co-CEOs, Hovione, said in a press release. "This investment also advances our strategy of building integrated capabilities close to customers in key markets. By adding this new line at East Windsor, we are broadening access to this technology in the U.S. and giving customers a more direct and accelerated path for developing and commercializing complex oral medicines." What Does a Single Development-To-Commercial Line Change? For formulators and process engineers, the most consequential claim is the removal of traditional scale-up. Moving a process from development equipment to commercial equipment typically requires engineering runs, bridging work, and consumption of scarce API, all of which weigh heavily on early programs with limited material. "Installing the CDC Flex at 89 Twin Rivers makes continuous tableting part of an integrated US development and manufacturing workflow," said David Basile, Vice President of Technical Operations, Hovione, in the press release. "Customers can move from formulation and particle engineering to commercial tablets with one Hovione team and one quality system, eliminating traditional scale-up while gaining greater production flexibility, process control and supply continuity." Co-locating spray drying and tableting is also significant because amorphous solid dispersions remain a primary solubility-enhancement route for poorly soluble molecules, and transferring intermediates between sites or vendors adds technology transfer and comparability burdens. The new line builds on the company's earlier US expansion; Hovione recently completed a $100 million investment to bolster US capacity in particle design, amorphous solid dispersions via spray drying, and batch and continuous tableting. How Is the Regulatory Environment Shaping Continuous Tableting Adoption? The company points to the 2022 adoption of ICH Q13, which provides harmonized guidance for continuous manufacturing of drug substances and drug products across the US, Europe, and Japan. Hovione reports that, as of 2024, FDA alone had approved 17 products manufactured under the guidance. Speaking on ICH Q13, FDA's Kelley Burridge, PhD, "Perceived barriers to continuous manufacturing have been falling one by one," and noted an FDA publication showing faster approval times for products with continuous manufacturing elements than for comparable batch products. The platform incorporates inline process analytical technology and automated controls for real-time quality monitoring, along with SimpleCT, an automation and control suite intended to support a single process from development through commercial supply. For sponsors weighing supply resilience and regional sourcing, the East Windsor installation extends a capability that Hovione says only it currently offers as a contract development and manufacturing organization.   Read the full article at PharmTech.com  

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