Austrian plastics and recycling specialist Alpla (Hard; www.alpla.com) is further expanding its range of pharmaceutical packaging. Together with the significantly smaller Spanish packaging manufacturer Inden Pharma (Ibi; www.indenpharma.com), Alpa has founded a joint venture to produce bottles and closures for pharmaceutical products under cleanroom conditions.

The group’s AlplaPharma division is contributing production sites in Koropi, Greece, and Żyrardów, Poland, to the cooperation, supplemented by two Inden Pharma plants in Ibi, Spain and a facility the companies are building in Markdorf, Germany. Production is scheduled to start there in June. Further details of the partnership were not disclosed.

Both JV partners are planning a joint annual production of around 800 mn pharmaceutical packages by 2023 and a tripling of this figure in the next five years. Future plans also include expansion into countries outside Europe, including India, the US, and Central and South America. “We want to become the market leader for pharmaceutical plastic packaging in the next five years,” said Juan Guillem González, owner and CEO of Inden Pharma.

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Inden Pharma had tripled its turnover in the past four years to EUR 30.5 mn (in 2022). The Spanish manufacturer sells more than 550 mn packs annually in 35 countries. It produces packaging solutions for oral liquids and solids, and ophthalmic, nasal, and parenteral applications.

Since entering the growing market for pharmaceutical packaging in 2016, the Austrian company has been continuously expanding this area. In 2019, it created the AlplaPharma business division, which in addition to the JV sites operates further production plants in Egypt, Romania, and South Africa. Last year, Alpla also acquired Polish pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer Apon (Żyrardów; www.apon.eu).

Alpla employs around 23,300 worldwide and produces packaging systems, bottles, closures, and other injection-moulded parts in 45 countries. The group also operates recycling plants in Austria, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Romania, and Thailand. Its most recent turnover was reported at EUR 5.1 bn.