Hovione Opens New Facility, Doubling US Spray Drying Capacity
Milestone completes a $100 million investment cycle in New Jersey and supports Hovione’s long-term vision for a next-generation pharmaceutical development and manufacturing hub.
Hovione, a global pharmaceutical Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), has opened a new 31,000-square-foot facility at its East Windsor, New Jersey campus that doubles the company's US spray drying capacity.
The facility adds two GMP-ready, commercial-scale PSD-3 spray dryers, expanding Hovione´s manufacturing capacity central to its integrated development and manufacturing platform spanning drug substance, spray drying and oral drug product manufacturing. Operating under the campus´s existing FDA registration and harmonized quality system, the expanded platform enables customers to reduce technology transfer, facilitate scale-up and provide greater manufacturing continuity.
Approximately 70% of small-molecule drug candidates exhibit poor aqueous solubility, which can limit bioavailability and slow development timelines. Hovione manufactures amorphous solid dispersions using spray drying technology as one approach to addressing this formulation challenge. The company has more than 25 years of experience in spray drying, including formulation development, predictive modeling tools, and scale-up and drug product manufacturing services.
“Opening 89 Twin Rivers is more than a capacity expansion. It marks the next chapter in Hovione’s legacy of more than two decades in the US,” said Marco Gil and Antonio Almeida, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Hovione. “This investment enables us to meet growing demand while further reinforcing our global leadership in pharmaceutical spray drying. Equally important, this technology sits within an integrated offering that extends from drug substance through drug product, giving customers a more direct and resilient path from early development to commercial. This is how we help them address poor solubility, one of the industry’s most persistent development challenges, and bring complex medicines to patients faster.”
The East Windsor campus is expected to expand over the next five to ten years, with plans to develop approximately 15 acres of adjacent property into a 125,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that would include additional laboratories, commercial-scale spray drying and oral drug product manufacturing capacity. Hovione has said customers can co-invest in the expansion in exchange for priority access to its manufacturing platforms and engineering resources.
“89 Twin Rivers is a major step forward for Hovione’s US operations and a clear expression of our long-term commitment to East Windsor and New Jersey,” said David Basile, Vice President of Technical Operations, Americas, at Hovione. “Our growth has been built on sustained investment in scientific expertise, technological innovation, advanced manufacturing capabilities, and talented people. As we look to the future, we will continue to strengthen this site as an innovation hub for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, contributing to the competitiveness of New Jersey’s life sciences ecosystem and to a stronger US manufacturing base.”
The site expansion is part of Hovione's international strategy to build a network of autonomous yet harmonized development and manufacturing sites across North America, Europe and Asia. Together with recent investments in Portugal and Ireland, the US expansion supports regionalized supply, dual-site manufacturing strategies and greater supply chain resilience through consistent technologies, quality systems and specialized manufacturing expertise.
