NeoStem: Eyre Subsidiary Approved to Use New Manufacturing Facility
NeoStem reported its China subsidiary, Suzhou Erye Pharma, was approved by the SFDA to begin manufacturing two penicillin products at the company's new facility.
NeoStem reported its China subsidiary, Suzhou Erye Pharma, was approved by the SFDA to begin manufacturing two penicillin products at the company's new facility. The new plant will allow Eyre to increase production of solvent crystallization sterile penicillin by 50% and freeze-dried raw sterile penicillin by 100%. In the past, these two products have generated 20% of Erye\'s revenues. NeoStem said this transition was the first of several similar moves to the new facility, a process that will continue "through" 2011. The new production lines must be completed and then certified as cGMP compliant. Eyre focuses on generic antibiotic medicines. NeoStem closed its acquisition of a 51% stake in Eyre in November 2009, saying at the time that Eyre expected to report net income of $12 million on $60 million of revenue during 2009. "Once Erye has completed its relocation to the new facility, and its new production lines are fully operational, it will have substantially increased its capacity from the current plant with the goal of becoming among the largest antibiotic producers in Eastern China,\" said Robin Smith, Chairman and CEO of NeoStem in a statement. In June 2009, NeoStem signed an exclusive 10-year agreement with Enhance BioMedical Holdings Limited of Shanghai, allowing Enhance to use NeoStem's techniques to build a stem cell collection and treatment network. Enhance said it plans to build facilities in Shanghai, Taiwan, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui and Jiangxi. NeoStem is in the stem cell collection business in the US, but its revenues were just $136,000 for the most recent12 months.