Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 263 No 7065 p516
October 2, 1999 Business

New extension - Cox's commitment to patient packs

Generics manufacturer Cox Pharmaceuticals expects to have most of its products available in patient packs by the end of the year, following the opening this week of a new facility for blister packing. The company, which has a 25 per cent share by volume of the United Kingdom generics market, says that it has committed itself to introducing patient packs across its product range, even though the UK is behind most of Europe in implementing the European Community labelling directive which requires patient packs. Some bulk packs will remain available for export or for hospital use. The Barnstaple-based company's new facility is a three-storey extension with "state of the art" blister packing machines on its first two floors. The top floor consists of dust extraction, air conditioning and other equipment for maintaining air quality. The extension was officially opened this week by Mr Einar W. Sissener, chairman of Cox's parent company, Alpharma Inc.

One of Cox's new blister packing machines

The new extension is part of a £10m investment programme. Cox has spent £4m on buildings and £5m on equipment so far, with the new blister pack lines costing up to £1m each. Proposals are in hand for additional equipment and warehousing to house patient packs, which the company says can take four or five times more shelf space than the bulk 100 or 500 tablet packs.
Expansion is also needed to serve increasing demand for Cox products and generic medicines generally. The factory is currently working at full capacity, producing nearly six billion tablets a year - mostly for home consumption, although 700 million are exported. It has seen a 20 per cent growth this year and predicts further growth following the Barnstaple expansion.
To cope with the increased demand, the company is to install additional capacity in granulation later this year, allowing an increase in production of 25 per cent next year.
Cox also needs increased capacity to cope with several "blockbuster" drugs whose patents expire during the next five years. The company intends to have them all available for sale on the day after the patent expiry.