AMRI has acquired Hyaluron Inc., expanding AMRI’s contract manufacturing capabilities to include cGMP manufacturing and sterile filling of parenteral drugs to the biopharmaceutical industry. AMRI has acquired all facilities, equipment and staff at a purchase price, including debt, of approximately $27 million.

Hyaluron is a contract manufacturer in the sterile syringe and vial filling areas, providing services for both small molecule drug products and biologicals, from clinical phase to commercial scale. The company is one of a small number of organizations in the U.S. with prefilled syringe capabilities. In 2008, the company announced the grant of a patent for Bubble-Free Filling, its proprietary process for aseptic online vacuum filling and online vacuum stoppering of low viscosity liquids in syringes.

This acquisition provides AMRI immediate entry into a new and strategically important product offering. According to an AMRI statement, the company can now offer customers a “fully integrated manufacturing process for sterile injectable drugs including the development and manufacture of the API, the design of the criteria to formulate the API into an injectable drug product, and the manufacture of the final drug product.”

“AMRI is excited to announce our entry into the rapidly growing sterile fill injectables market, including capabilities to formulate and manufacture protein-containing drug products,” said AMRI chairman and chief executive officer Thomas E. D’Ambra, Ph.D. “This acquisition immediately expands the synergies we can offer to our customers, by providing services in preparation of active ingredients and finished dosage form.

“We believe that the unique capabilities of both organizations will quickly assimilate into a larger, fully integrated GMP manufacturing provider of choice for companies desiring to capitalize on seamless technology transfer and the related increased efficiency and cost benefits of such a model,” continued Dr. D’Ambra.

Hyaluron founder and president Shawn Kinney, Ph.D. will continue in his role as site leader of the Hyaluron business unit, which will operate as a subsidiary of AMRI. Hyaluron forecasts full year 2010 revenue to be $15 to $17 million, up from $13 million for the full year 2009.