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Press Release / Mar 18, 2025

Hovione’s new campus in Seixal enters final stage of construction. Set to open in mid-2027

Investment in Hovione Tejo will expand industrial capacity and strengthen the company’s global leadership in spray drying and other advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies.

Hovione Tejo in Seixal enters final construction phase | Hovione
  • Investment in Hovione Tejo will expand industrial capacity and strengthen the company’s global leadership in spray drying and other advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies
  • The facility will feature state-of-the-art automation and sustainability solutions, reflecting a commitment to excellence in this industry 
  • By 2026, the site ramp-up will be supported by a dedicated team of approximately 40 members, scaling up to 100 as production begins

 

Lisbon, March 18, 2025 – The first construction phase of the Hovione Tejo Campus in Seixal has entered its final stage, with commissioning set for mid-2027. Spanning 42 hectares to support future expansions, the site will initially feature two production buildings, one for particle engineering technologies and one for final dosage forms. Facilities will be equipped with cutting-edge automation. With an initial investment of around €200 million, the project will create around one hundred highly skilled jobs, enabling Hovione to expand its industrial capacity and reinforce its global position.

With the opening of this new Campus, Hovione will operate five manufacturing sites across three continents: two in Portugal (Loures and Seixal), and one each in Ireland (Cork), the United States (New Jersey), and Macau. 

“This new phase of Hovione Tejo´s construction is a major step in the company’s international expansion. By combining state-of-the-art scientific and engineering expertise and cutting-edge technology, this greenfield expansion will enable compliant and efficient manufacturing of complex new medicines for our customers. It will also create numerous direct and indirect qualified jobs, strengthening the pharmaceutical ecosystem in the beautiful region of Seixal. The products manufactured here will be exported worldwide, contributing to improving the health of millions of people”, said Dr. Jean-Luc Herbeaux, CEO of Hovione. 

The two initial production buildings will be complemented by supporting infrastructure such as laboratories, offices, cafeteria and other shared facilities. The new Campus will incorporate advanced sustainability and decarbonization solutions to minimize environmental impact and ensure energy efficiency. 

Operations will begin with 40 team members in 2026, increasing to 100 once production starts. “We have assembled a multidisciplinary team, drawing expertise from our entire organization, to design a Campus that sets new standards. It will provide an exceptional environment for our team members, suppliers and customers, conducive to the development of new solutions based on high yield collaborations”, added Dr. Jean-Luc Herbeaux.

About Hovione 

Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing operations. As a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) it has a fully integrated offering of services for drug substances, drug product intermediates and drug products. The company has four FDA inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China and 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 solutions across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione offers a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and manufacturing, capsule filling and devices. Hovione's culture is based on innovation, quality and dependability. Hovione is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards.

Hovione Tejo in Seixal 3D visualization - aerial view | Hovione

 

Hovione Tejo in Seixal 3D visualization - building 72

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A mechanical engineering graduate, this Frenchman is the CEO of the Portuguese pharmaceutical contract manufacturer Hovione. Still owned by the founding family, the company was awarded the 2025 ‘Léonardo de Vinci’ Prize, which recognizes the innovative and successful succession planning of family businesses. With an international career behind him, Jean-Luc Herbeaux is almost more fluent in English than in his native language. At 58, this Frenchman with iceberg-blue eyes is the CEO of Hovione. Founded in the late 1950s, this Portuguese group, with 100% family ownership, has just received the ‘Léonardo de Vinci’ Prize, which highlights entrepreneurial successes tinged with family legacy. While this mid-sized company with a turnover of €500 million maintains a low profile, its pharmaceutical contract manufacturing business is just as obscure to the general public. "Yet, the market for contract manufacturers, or 'contract development manufacturing organizations,' is worth $200 billion", emphasizes the CEO, who has been working in this microcosm for two decades. 500 patents Aware of the stakes, he does not deny "the pharma industry's dependence on Indian and Chinese capabilities". "The fact remains that the trend is toward the regionalization of supply chains, with European manufacturers producing for the Old Continent, American manufacturers for their own market, and so on", he says. And to highlight the foresight of Diane and Ivan Villax, the founding couple, "who thought globally from the very beginning". As a result, the group, with its 500 patents, has factories in China, the United States, and Ireland, without neglecting its home territory. This is evident by the site currently under construction on the banks of the Tagus River, following a €200 million investment. "The heavy engineering and compliance aspects are being finalized, "he explains, emphasizing that this highly regulated sector "is under a microscope". He knows this all too well, as Hovione claims to be involved in 5 to 10% of the drugs approved each year by the FDA, the American drug regulatory agency. Professor from Houston to Japan “In this small world, having a good image is important: this is the case with Jean-Luc, passionate about his work, but who knows how to demystify things”, observes Elie Vannier, former chairman of the board of Hovione. He adds that having an international profile is a strength “in this ecosystem where talent and clients are international”. For his part, Jean-Luc retains from his numerous flights “a taste for films of all genres and from all countries”. The son of an administrative employee in secondary schools and an auto insurance expert, the youngest of three children moved around according to his parents' job transfers. He was born in Meaux, grew up in Chartres, and attended the University of Technology of Compiègne, “which already offered programs abroad”. Thus, he left a mechanical engineering internship at a Dior perfume factory to join the University of Houston in Texas, "carrying a 20 kg backpack". Despite his then-limited command of English, he earned a doctorate, became a professor, and met an American woman who would become his wife and the mother of their two children. Next came the University of Kanazawa in Japan. Alas! Disappointed by the academic world, "where you have to fight to get resources", he succumbed to the allure of industry and joined the American chemical company Rohm and Haas, which had fallen under the control of the German company Evonik. 80 million patients He spent twenty years there, in Germany and Singapore, before "accepting the offers from headhunters". He then accepted Hovione's offer, who appointed him Chief Operating Officer in 2020, then CEO two years later, making him the first CEO not from the founding family. The family remains the sole shareholder, which earned the company the ‘Léonardo de Vinci’ Prize, created by the Association Les Hénokiens and the Clos Lucé. Having settled near Lisbon, he substituted walking for combat sports, "having been burned by the injuries of some friends". He also mentioned that Hovione, whose clients include 19 of the world's 20 largest pharmaceutical companies, helps treat more than 80 million patients.   (Translated version)   Read the original and full article in French on LesEchos.fr  

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The CDMO’s New Jersey manufacturing site expansion will eventually cover more than 200,000 square feet. Portugal-based contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Hovione has completed an initial $100 million investment round in its East Windsor, New Jersey site. Once completed it will increase the facility’s footprint to more than 200,000 square feet and more than double its capacity for spray drying. Hovione CEO Jean-Luc Herbeaux said: “Since launching our New Jersey operations in 2002, Hovione has been one of the longest established European CDMOs in the United States. “This investment reinforces Hovione’s leadership in spray drying – a core technology platform where we have built extensive know-how and capabilities. By continuing to advance our platforms and expand capacity in the US, we are strengthening the foundation that enables our partners to bring complex medicines to patients more efficiently.” Spray drying is an increasingly important particle engineering technology for improving drug bioavailability through the amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) that can address bioavailability or crystallisation challenges. The initial phase of Hovione’s expansion will include a 31,000-square-foot building to house two size-3 spray dryers (PSD-3) designed for ASD production. Construction at the New Jersey site is already underway and the company plans to start GMP operations in the second quarter of 2026. The initiative is part of Hovione’s long-term strategy to grow its US operations and enhance its integrated drug substance, drug product intermediate and drug product capabilities. Herbeaux said: “This investment addresses growing customer demand for US-based capacity and integrated solutions that shorten development timelines and reduce tech transfer complexity. By consolidating development, scale-up, and commercial manufacturing within a single quality and governance framework, we provide customers with seamless execution from drug substance to drug product.” The company’s New Jersey expansion fits into its wider international growth plan that also includes capacity investments in Ireland and Portugal as it seeks to create a network of autonomous sites spanning the development and commercialisation of APIs, drug product intermediates and drug products.   Read the full article at EuropeanPharmaceuticalReview.com  

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