Minakem, the contract manufacturing division of Minafin, specialized in custom development and manufacturing of building blocks, intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the pharmaceutical industry, has initiated the extension of its manufacturing capacity at its Dunkirk site in France.

The $18 million investment from parent company Minafin is the first of this magnitude. It will enable the company to set up a new production line, increasing production capacity by 28 cubic meters. In parallel, existing production assets are being upgraded in order to increase flexibility. This will free up an additional 26 cubic meters production volume. In total, the production volume at the Dunkirk site will increase by 54 cubic meters to a total capacity of 148 cubic meters.

“We are pleased to announce the initial phase of an additional production line at our Dunkirk site. Thanks to this major investment by the Minafin Group, we are excited by the growth potential for Minakem,” said Thierry van Nieuwenhove, chief executive officer, Minakem. “It fits into our ‘Jump 21’ strategy and follows Minafin’s objective to increase overall production capacity at Minakem’s sites. This will also enable us to better respond to growing market needs and will undoubtedly contribute to the expansion of our product and service offering and to our growth.”

This investment comes at a time when Minakem is seeing an increasing number of innovations and new molecules hit the market, which is driving the need for more production capacity among quality suppliers in Europe.

More volume capacity means that Minakem can extend its product range and continue meeting client expectations in terms of international standards and flexibility. The increased volume will also enable Minakem to remain competitive as a supplier of active ingredients to the pharmaceutical industry.

The engineering phase has already started on the site; a former AstraZeneca facility that Minakem bought in 2009. It meets the highest standard requirements from all authorities worldwide. Commission tests are planned for early 2019, with an expected operational starting date in May 2019.

A previous investment of $1.9 million was made by Minafin in 2016 to ensure continuous flow manufacturing and increased capacity in cryogenic production.