Horizon acquires Irish facility for $65m

Horizon says it is the right time to add inhouse manufacturing capabilities as it acquires a facility from EirGen Pharma.

Horizon Therapeutics will pay OPKO health’s EirGen Pharma $65 million for the 44,000 square-foot drug product manufacturing facility located in Waterford, Ireland.

The facility includes a filling line, lyophiliser or freeze dryer, which can be used for the firm’s commercial medicines such as Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw), Krystexxa and Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon) plus other drugs in its pipeline.

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The successful launch of Tepezza, a medicine for thyroid eye disease and the ongoing growth of Krystexxa a treatment for uncontrolled gout has caused Horizon to believe it is the right time to add inhouse manufacturing capabilities.

The company will work with Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Agency (HPRA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to attain licensure for fill/finish manufacturing with Horizon anticipating the first medicine authorized for release in around two years.

As part of the acquisition, 40 of EirGen’s employees will transfer to Horizon once the transaction has closed in the third quarter of this year.

Horizon will also increase its headcount by recruiting 50 additional members of staff for the site in 2021 and 2022.

Horizon’s global headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland and the firm are constructing a new 62,000 square-foot headquarters site at this location.

“The headquarters presence coupled with the significant technical operations/manufacturing expertise among the current team in Ireland made this facility attractive,” Horizon told us. “The adjacent land available may be used for further manufacturing and development expansion, but we have not provided comment on specifics.”