The Bachem Group announced measures and decisions designed to ensure that the global market is kept supplied with the active pharmaceutical ingredient Propofol from its Swiss production site in Vionnaz.
The Bachem Group, which is the market leader in the development and manufacture of peptide-based active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) as well as a recent entrant in the corresponding market for oligonucleotides, is also very successful in offering a small range of non-peptidic APIs. Bachem is the world’s leading producer of the anesthetic agent Propofol – which it has manufactured for years at its site in Vionnaz, Switzerland – and is therefore a key player in supplying the market.
To ensure that the company can reliably continue to satisfy the growing demand for Propofol, which is currently accentuated by the need for additional supplies for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, the team in Vionnaz has expanded production to a 24/7 shift operation. The company is also investing about a million Swiss francs in additional equipment with the aim of guaranteeing its continued supply capability at all times.
Thomas Meier, Chief Executive Officer, remarked: “As a producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients, we see it as our responsibility to help, reliably and conscientiously, to ensure that patients continue to be supplied with this product even in extraordinary times. With these measures, we are ensuring that the currently required quantities of Propofol can be manufactured and delivered. To ensure that this remains the case in future, we are expanding our production facilities accordingly. Even though Propofol, as a ‘small molecule’, is not part of our core business as such, Bachem will continue to be the market leader in providing a vitally important API for healthcare worldwide – from Switzerland and of first-class quality.”