ANJAC Health & Beauty has acquired Pillar5 Pharma, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in the production of sterile ophthalmic solutions and niche solid dose manufacturing. The acquisition reinforces ANJAC’s international expansion and broadens its health offerings with new ophthalmic services for local and international brands and laboratories. This is ANJAC’s second major operation of 2022, following its acquisition of Apollo Healthcare in January.

Pillar5, a Canadian company, is one of the primary North American CDMOs for the production of sterile ophthalmic solutions and solid dose manufacturing (tablets, capsules, etc.). It is the first CDMO to offer multi-dose preservative free capabilities, an innovative ophthalmic solution, on the North American market.

Based in Arnprior, Ontario, Pillar5 became an independent company in 2009, offering a full line of services ranging from formulation, product manufacturing and custom packaging to providing technical services. Pillar5 has built a diversified portfolio of loyal clients, working with major pharmaceutical laboratories as well as specialists in ophthalmological care.

The company has 150 employees, and a turnover of CAD$50 million.

ANJAC’s agreement with Pillar5 marks its ninth acquisition in five years, which will bring its global turnover close to €650 million. The group’s turnover will have doubled in the space of three years. Each new acquisition represents an opportunity for ANJAC to expand its services in specific domains and benefit from their complementarities. The ANJAC group now includes 14 specialized companies, with 22 R&D and manufacturing sites.

“We’re very pleased with this strategic acquisition,” said Aurélien Chaufour, president, ANJAC. “It will foster our growth in a new key sector, the ophthalmology market, specifically through sterile, multi-dose preservative free ophthalmic solutions, an innovation with high added value.”

Dwight Gorham, president and CEO, Pillar5, said, “We’re delighted to join a family-owned industrial group that will support our ambitious expansion projects. We’re already identifying synergies, particularly on a commercial level, with international clients that could be a good fit for Pillar5 and other companies in the ANJAC group.”