Stirling Pharma Acquires North Sydney Drug Facility

Published: 08-Mar-2010

Stirling Pharma, an Australian group, has taken over North Sydney-based Keata Pharma for about $3.6m, reported the Chronicle Herald.

According to Neil Ferguson, vice-president of finance with Stirling Products in Charlottetown, Stirling Products of Australia will have control over both the North Sydney plant and the Charlottetown operations. The bio-science company intends to expand in the pharmaceuticals domain and the neutraceuticals (food additives with health benefits) field.

A research and development section will also be included in the North Sydney operation. However, once the facility is revived back to life over the coming months, it will concentrate mainly on processing and manufacturing. The company is going to bring in required technicians as contracts are secured, and getting the high-tech plant, which closed in May of last year, back into operation

Mr Ferguson said that North Sydney unit's first project will be the commercialization of a daffodil and herb extraction process developed recently by researchers at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Bible Hill.

Mr Ferguson said: "We will be involved with in-house development of products and also with contract work, similar to how the plant functioned previously. As soon as we build up orders we’ll hire from the pool of technicians originally trained for the Keata Pharma operation.

“Our location in North Sydney provides us with easy access to a container facility, which is important as the plan is to ship container loads of product to Boston and New York for distribution throughout the United States."

Mr Ferguson added: "We put in an offer through Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation and the receiver and recently learned we were successful. We got an almost new facility for a very good price, but before anybody criticizes Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation for selling it at this price, they should remember the organization has done its job, and that is to bring industry to the region."

Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation was in a dangerous situation for over $4m when the plant closed. The two-storey facility is about 10,600sqft, and consists of temperature and atmosphere controls required for drug manufacturing. About two hectares of land and some specialized drug-manufacturing equipment were included in the sale.

Stirling Pharma is keen on establishing a close working relationship with the Cape Breton University, which trained technicians who worked at the operation for about 18 months before it closed, said Mr Ferguson. Stirling Pharma is a new company established by the Australian parent company to facilitate the sale. An initial contract for the North Sydney plant was expected to involve packaging of nutrients for the US market.

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