Pacira and Patheon Collaborate
Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PCRX) has signed a strategic co-production partnership deal with Patheon. As per the partnership agreement, Exparel will be manufactured and packaged at Patheon’s facility in the U.K.
As per the deal, Patheon will construct the dedicated manufacturing suites, install and validate the manufacturing equipments and manufacture Exparel.
Pacira’s lead product, Exparel, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (:FDA) for administration into the surgical site to produce post-surgical analgesia. The drug was launched in Apr 2012. Net Exparel revenues were $76.2 million in 2013.
Since its launch 2,106 customers have ordered Exparel as of Dec 31, 2013, with roughly 250 customers each ordering more than $100,000. Pacira reported an average of 29 new customers per week in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Pacira is working to expand the manufacturing capacity of Exparel to meet the growing demand for the drug. Last month, the FDA approved an additional manufacturing suite (Suite C) for Exparel.
The site at Patheon will be designed to mirror the recently approved Suite C manufacturing facility. An additional $300 million of product manufacturing capacity will be created with this site at Patheon.
Pacira also announced that it has initiated a public offering of its common stock worth $100 million. Underwriters have been granted an option to purchase an additional $15 million shares of Pacira’s common stock, with a 30-day window to do so.
Pacira carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors looking for better-ranked stocks in the pharma sector may consider companies like Impax Laboratories Inc. (IPXL), Actavis plc (ACT) and Lannett Co., Inc. (LCI). Actavis and Impax Labs carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) while Lannett carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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