Leaders at Codis in Haverhill, formerly EUROAPI, see a big future for the facility following acquisition

The new owners of a long-established pharmaceutical and biotech firm in Haverhill aim to grow the business further and provide more jobs at the facility.

EUROAPI, based in Rookwood Way (formerly Sanofi and before that Genzyme), has been rebranded as Codis, having been integrated with its new owner, US company Particle Dynamics, which has existing facilities in St. Louis, Missouri and Seymour, Indiana.

It officially launched on October 14 as a CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization), which will partner with pharmaceutical and biotech firms to provide a wide range of services for drug development, from early-stage research and formulation to large-scale manufacturing, packaging, and supply chain management.

Nicolas Fortin, Codis CEO, said the existing technology - in particular its spray dryer, the UK’s largest - and the skills and expertise of the staff at the site made it an attractive proposition.

“When, the first time I was here and I saw what was already set up and Nick (Hodgson, site head) was interested to join us. I saw that it could be a very good opportunity and that’s why Haverhill attracted us.”

Steve Facer, Codis senior vice president sales and marketing, said: “The technology here is now super applicable to the new products that are coming on the market and our job is to get the clients to come here again as they did 15 to 20 years ago.”

Mr Hodgson, who has been at the site for more than 20 years, said it now has around 160 employees, having peaked at about 350.

The intention now is to use the technology and skilled workforce at Codis to attract more investment and recruit more staff.

“The thing for me is the hope to provide employment for more local people and to attract top talent in the industry to the site, because we’ve got potentially a lot to offer,” he said.

“We want to be able to attract the top talent and to be able to execute our plans and that is definitely possible.”

Mr Fortin said: “Do we see a bright future for the site, absolutely.”

The facility has perhaps been best known down the 30 years as a big producer of sevelamer, a drug used by patients with chronic kidney disease who are on dialysis.

It also specialises in aqueous and solvent-based spray drying as well as amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) at commercial scale.

ASD is the specialised processing of a drug so it can be absorbed into the patient when taken.