New iNova investment boosts Australian manufacturing and exports

 iNova Pharmaceuticals, one of the top five fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Australia, today unveiled increased production capacity at its world class manufacturing, laboratory and product development facility, the iNova Technology Centre, in Sydney.

As part of the iNova corporate headquarters for operations in Australasia, the Asia-Pacific and Southern Africa, the $2.2 million investment in additional equipment and accompanying site upgrade more than doubles iNova’s capacity to package tablets, capsules and lozenges destined for local and export markets, from 8.4 million to 20 million blister packs per year.

The new iNova Technology Centre investment follows the multi-million dollar upgrade in 2006 to meet increasing local and export demand for Australian manufactured product. The Centre manufactures high quality products that contribute about 75% of company revenue, while around 50% of total revenue is export sales from Australia.

Federal Member for Calwell and Standing Committee Chair on Industry, Science and Innovation, Ms Maria Vamvakinou MP, officially opened the iNova Technology Centre extension and toured the facility today, seeing first hand its high quality, cost effective and state of the art capability in manufacturing solid and liquid dosage forms into a variety of finished products.

According to CEO Andrew Howden, iNova’s Australian manufacturing operations are an important part of the company’s rapid growth, driven by a strategic focus on creating patient and consumer value as iNova introduces new products into existing markets and enters new export markets in Asia, such as China and Vietnam.

“The new investment will enable us to better meet changing customer needs in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific and Southern African regions, while continuing to provide high quality products and services to many countries, which benefits our local economy, exports and Australian based jobs,” Mr Howden said.

Mr Howden largely attributes iNova’s success in creating value to lower risk, yet still rewarding, ‘incremental’ innovation. “Integral to iNova’s ongoing double digit growth is our ability to compete on both productivity and intellectual knowhow, which we achieve by investing in what we call incremental innovation.”

“At the iNova Technology Centre this includes developing and manufacturing new product formulations and dosage forms to expand patient and consumer choice, through to developing and applying new testing and validation methods that maximise efficiencies in ensuring optimal drug delivery and high quality product,” he said.

Supported by Australian private equity owners Archer Capital and Ironbridge Capital, iNova is an investor in Australian based pharmaceutical manufacturing and an employer of a highly skilled workforce. iNova manufactures on site numerous high growth Australian owned and made consumer healthcare and prescription products, including market leading brands DuroTuss® and Difflam®.

Media contact: Athena Kolivos 0412 857 698
Further information is available at www.inovapharma.com



From left to right Ms Judy Hopwood MP (NSW Member for Hornsby);, Andrew Howden iNova CEO, Ms Maria Vamvakinou MP (Federal Member for Calwell and Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation), Nick Berman, Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council; Greg Minton, iNova Board Chair and a Managing Partner of Archer Capital.

iNova Pharmaceuticals:

iNova Pharmaceuticals (Australia) Pty Limited is an Australian owned and operated pharmaceutical company that is the corporate headquarters for iNova Pharmaceuticals (“iNova”) operations across Australia, Asia-Pacific and Southern Africa regions.

Our company has leading consumer healthcare and prescription product brands and exports to over 20 countries, with a current portfolio of in-licensed and in-house developed drugs mainly in the areas of weight management, pain management, allergy, sexual health, dermatology, cardiology and respiratory health.

iNova is borne out of more than 50 years heritage from Riker Laboratories and 3M Pharmaceuticals following the November 2006 purchase of 3M’s Asia-Pacific pharmaceutical business by Australian private equity firms Archer Capital and Ironbridge Capital. Many products originally from these companies are an important part of iNova’s diverse product range as are new ones, developed and manufactured at the iNova Technology Centre in Sydney.

iNova has a broad spectrum of capabilities to extend product brands into new and existing markets. These include high quality sales and marketing execution, in-licensing, developing and acquiring products, alongside manufacturing, quality and regulatory processes.

In addition to its own dedicated business units, iNova works in partnership with companies in other countries to make products available to the broader global community. Consequently, iNova has been successfully launching products (licensed-in or developed in-house) in Australia, New Zealand, throughout South-East Asia and Southern Africa, as well as exporting to countries such as Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam.

Fundamental to iNova’s future product pipeline are new opportunities bringing patient and consumer value in selected therapy areas. With its flexibility, established infrastructure and proven track record, iNova is an attractive licensing partner for companies planning to enter the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions.


iNova Technology Centre:

The Centre is a certified Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) licensed Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) site for pharmaceutical manufacturing that has ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification.

Pharmaceuticals are manufactured in liquid and solid dosage forms into a variety of finished product presentations at the Centre, which also has the flexibility in manufacturing capability to switch between items produced in order to meet market demand changes.

Representing major investment in energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies and processes, the Centre houses modern facilities to manufacture product 24 hours per day, six days a week, including:
• Research and development pilot plant and laboratories;
• Fully equipped analytical chemistry and microbiology quality control and laboratories;
• Manufacturing facilities for solids, liquids, cream products, bottles and blister packaging.
• Warehouse and Distribution
• Over 170 well trained and quality conscious employees

Annual production capacity at the Centre includes:
• 570 million tablets, 2.5 million litres of liquid products
• 40 million blister packing platforms packed into 20 million blister packs
• 6.75 million tubes for topical preparations