German packaging manufacturer Gerresheimer (Düsseldorf; www.gerresheimer.com) has officially opened a new plant for pharmaceutical packaging with class 9 and 7 cleanrooms at Changzhou, Jiangsu / China. The company said it is reacting to strong demand. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Silver Spring, Maryland; www.fda.gov) has just approved the type of containers to be produced at the Chinese site, so that Gerresheimer’s local customers will be able to use them for exporting to the US. The new plant is also expected to be certified soon by China’s Center for Drug Evaluation. With the start-up at Changhzou, the German packaging manufacturer now has six production sites in the People’s Republic. The others are at Danyang, Jiangsu, as well as Dongguan, Guangdong, and Shuangfeng, Hunan.

In Kosamba, Gujarat / India, Gerresheimer has opened a second production site to help meet growing demand for the “Triveni” round containers produced by affiliate Triveni Polymers at Kundli, Haryana, in which it acquired a majority stake in 2012 – see Plasteurope.com of 20.12.2012. Production is due to start up in class 8 and class 9 cleanrooms by the end of 2019. At the same site, Indian subsidiary Gerresheimer Pharmaceutical Packaging Mumbai will manufacture vials made of tubular glass for pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications, including ampoules.

Having a second site in India, along with warehouses available in Hyderabad, will allow a significant reduction in time to customers as well as enhancing supply performance and ensuring business continuity, Niels Düring, global executive vice president at Gerresheimer Plastic Packaging, said at the Kosamba opening ceremony on 16 December 2019.