Rhodia boosts UK life sciences capacities, R&D spend

20 March 2000 10:31  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--French specialty chemicals company Rhodia announced Monday it will invest Euro30m ($29m) this year to expand production at its Holmes Chapel, UK site and also build a pilot plant at its research and development (R&D) centre in Lyon, France.

At Holmes Chapel, Rhodia expects the new capacity to be brought onstream during the first quarter of 2001. Rhodia declined to give details on the size of the capacity increase at the site, which its fine organics division bought from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer to boost its strength in advanced intermediary pharmaceutical products.

Rhodia plans in April to begin construction of a new pilot plant in Lyon to supply pharmaceuticals partners with pre-clinical samples. No information was available on the new technology, but the company may build its first full-scale commercial plant at the Holmes Chapel site, said a spokesman.

The French firm also plans - under a separate, but parallel, capital programme - to begin manufacturing pharmaceutical ingredients at its upgraded site at Dagenham, England in the second quarter. The ingredients will be used principally in anti-cholesterol and veterinary treatments. Rhodia also bought the Dagenham complex from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer.

In a further boost to its life sciences ambitions, Rhodia also announced today a 30% increase in its R&D spend in areas such as chiral chemistry, enzymatic catalysis, carbanions and organometallic chemistry.

The Euro30m investment programme revealed today follows Rhodia capital spend of a similar amount in 1999. Last year the company invested in fine nitration facilities at Mulhouse, France and in the range of anaesthetics produced at its plant in Avonmouth, England. The spokesman for the company said the total investment plan - Euro60m over two years - will help to give it "full spectrum" capability in life sciences.

In a statement, Jean-Claude Bravard, deputy president of Rhodia and heads of the fine organics division, said: "Our aim is to provide a global offering for all our partners in the pharmaceutical industry, ranging from pre-clinical samples to commercial batches. This multi-service approach will enable us to accompany our customers even more closely in the different phases of their products' lives."

By: Patrick Reynolds
+44 208 652 3214

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