Wikipedia

Vetter Pharma

Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG is a German pharmaceutical service provider founded in 1950. It is headquartered in Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg, and has production sites in Germany, Austria, the United States, as well as sales offices in Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.[2][3] The company develops, manufactures and packages aseptically prefilled syringes, cartridges, and vials.[1]

Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG
Company typeGmbH & Co. KG
Founded1950[1]
Headquarters
Germany, Ravensburg
Key people
Managing Directors:[1]
Thomas Otto
Peter Soelkner
ProductsAseptically prefilled application systems (syringes, cartridges, vials)
Revenue€892,1 million (2022)[1]
Number of employees
5,647 (2022)[1]
Websitevetter-pharma.com

History edit

Early years and expansion of main business edit

 
Headquarters at production site (2022)

The company was founded in 1950 by pharmacist Helmut Vetter (1920-1999) as "Apotheker Vetter & Co. Arzneimittel GmbH Ravensburg".[4] Initially, the company manufactured mainly wafer capsules, specifically their stomachic "Ullus capsules".[4] One year after its foundation, the company moved to the centre of Ravensburg. In 1958, Helmut Vetter opened a pharmacy ("Apotheke Vetter am Marienplatz"), including a perfumery and Reformhaus. During this time, Vetter began to look into airtight and watertight sealing for the medicines which he produced in his pharmacy.[4]

From 1965, the company began contract manufacturing of solid and liquid medicines, including their packaging, such as contact lens solutions. Since 1975, aseptically prefilled syringes were increasingly produced and since the end of the 1980s, aseptic filling has been the company's main business.[4]

Entry into the U.S. market edit

 
Production site Ravensburg South Mariatal (2022)

Vetter founded its first foreign subsidiary in the United States in 1983, "Vetter Pharma Turm Inc." (Yardley, Pennsylvania), to handle sales in the United States and Canada. The following year, the company was renamed "Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG". In 1987, Udo Vetter took over management positions in the company.[5]

In 1988, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Vetter's Ravensburg facility approval to operate, which opened the U.S. market. At that point, the pharmaceutical service provider employed around 350 people.[4] Two years later, the company launched a dual-chamber syringe, which contains freeze-dried and thus long-lasting drugs in one chamber and a suitable solvent in the second chamber. The components are mixed during application.[4]

Automation and global expansion edit

Over the following years, production was largely automated. A second German production facility was established in Langenargen in 1996, which also received FDA approval in 1998. In 2004, a second plant in Ravensburg-South (Mariatal industrial estate) started construction. The production facility was completed at the end of 2006 and received manufacturing approval from the Tübingen Regional Council in early 2007,[6] followed by FDA approval one year later. At the end of 2007, Vetter began construction of a new plant for final packaging at the Ravensburg site, which was fully commissioned in May 2009.[7]

Also in 2009, the company founded its sales subsidiary "Vetter Pharma International GmbH", and named its U.S. sales subsidiary "Vetter Pharma International USA Inc".[8] In 2011, production began at the first U.S. clinical manufacturing facility in Chicago.[9] Vetter entered the Asian market in 2014 with a sales office in Singapore.[10] A year later, a branch office was opened in Tokyo, Japan,[2] and another office in South Korea in 2018.[3]

In 2017, Vetter laid the foundation for a new administration building at its Ravensburg Schuetzenstrasse site.[11] In 2018 the demand for development projects within the early clinical phases grew and the U.S. site in Skokie, Chicago, was expanded from 3,500 square meters to approximately 4,700 square meters with additional extensions to the site in 2019.[12]

In 2020, Vetter began a strategic collaboration with the family-run biotech company Rentschler Biopharma SE.[13] In the same year, the company moved into new headquarters at its Ravensburg site.[14]

In March 2021, Vetter opened a branch office in Shanghai, China.[15] After Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, this represented the company's fourth branch office in the Asia-Pacific region.[16] By September of the same year, all German, Austrian, U.S., and Asian production sites and sales offices were climate neutral.[17] At the end of 2021, Vetter received operating approval for a new clinical manufacturing facility in Rankweil, Austria, following an inspection by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES).[18][19]

In March 2023, Vetter joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world's largest corporate initiative for sustainable business practices.[20] In 2023, the production capacities and range of services at the Rankweil site were expanded.[21]

Corporate Structure edit

Vetter's managing directors are Thomas Otto and Peter Soelkner. In addition to the Vetter management team, an independent advisory board chaired by Udo J. Vetter also assists the company. In the fiscal year 2022, the company generated sales of over €890 million and employed over 5,600 people.[1] The company generated more than half of its sales in the U.S.[22][23]

Vetter has locations nationally and internationally. In Ravensburg and Langenargen,[24] the company operates a total of three production facilities for manufacturing and final packaging. In the U.S. and Austria, small quantities of active ingredients are filled for clinical test series.[4] Further sites are located in the Asia-Pacific region with sales subsidiaries in China, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.[2][3][25]

Products edit

Vetter develops, manufactures and packages injectable drugs.[26] The company sterilely fills active ingredients into syringes and other injection systems,[27] for example, ingredients for diseases such as rheumatism, Crohn's disease or rare diseases such as Alzheimer's in children.[24]

Importance for the U.S. edit

In the United States, Vetter is listed at Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative (CFDI), a strategy and list maintained by the United States Department of Homeland Security of foreign infrastructure, which, if attacked or destroyed, would critically impact the U.S.[28][23]

Awards edit

In 2022, Vetter won the Sustainable Impact Award in the category "Social Impact on Employees", which relates to employee satisfaction. The award is presented by the magazine Wirtschaftswoche, the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft and Generali Deutschland.[29] In 2023, the Sustainable Impact Award was won for the second time, this time in the "Impact of Social Engagement" category.[30]

In 2023, Vetter received the German Federal Ministry for the Environment's Environmental Management Award.[31]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Vetter Pharma-Fertigungs GmbH & Co. KG (6 February 2024). "Konzernabschluss zum Geschäftsjahr vom 01.01.2022 bis zum 31.12.2022". [Consolidated financial statement for the business year 2022], Bundesanzeiger (in German).
  2. ^ a b c "Vetter opens a new office in Japan". Manufacturing Chemist. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Vetter's Opens a New Office in South Korea". Pharmas Alamanac. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Von Oberschwaben in die Welt". Vetter Pharma. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Zur Person". Schwäbische Zeitung (in German). 20 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Vetter Pharma-Fertigung, Contract Manufacturing Facility, Ravensburg". Pharmaceutical Technology. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  7. ^ Boemelburg. "Wachstum an mehreren Standorten. Firma Vetter investiert 500000 Euro in neuen Parkplatz am Standort Langenargen". Südkurier (in German). 1 October 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Vetter Pharma Fertigung launches new subsidiary". Manufacturing Chemist. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  9. ^ Lynch, Maggie (18 April 2019). "Vetter's Chicago-based manufacturing facility expansion to meet the region's CDMO needs". Outsourcing Pharma. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Vetter Opens New Office in Singapore to Support Growing Asian Market". PharmTech. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Vetter Lays the Foundation for a State-of-the-Art Administration Building". Businesswire. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Vetter's Skokie Facility Expansion, Illinois, Chicago, US". Pharmaceutical Technology. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Oberschwäbische Pharma-Allianz". Schwäbische Zeitung. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  14. ^ "600 Leute sitzen in neuer Vetter-Zentrale". Schwäbische Zeitung. 6 September 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  15. ^ Brooks, Kristin (3 August 2021). "Vetter Establishes Office in China". Contract Pharma. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Vetter baut seine Aktivitäten in China weiter aus". CheManager (in German). 8 March 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Vetter Achieves Climate Neutrality Across All Sites". Contract Pharma. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Vetter Expands Fill/Finish Capacity with Acquisition of New Site in Austria". BioPharm International. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Vetters Hightech-Standort in Rankweil offiziell in Betrieb". Weekend.at (in German). 2 February 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  20. ^ Alivia Leon (2023-03-09). "Vetter Joins United Nations Global Compact". BioPharm International. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
  21. ^ "Lohnhersteller Vetter erweitert österreichischen Standort Rankweil" [Contract manufacturer Vetter expands its Austrian site in Rankweil]. Pharma+Food (in German). 10 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  22. ^ Rosenberger, Walther. "Vetter knackt 6000-Mitarbeiter-Schwelle in Ravensburg". Südkurier. 1 April 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  23. ^ a b Marx, Uwe. "200 Millionen sterile Teile – und keins darf Fehler haben". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 18 April 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  24. ^ a b Wienrich, Sabine. "Wie Corona das Geschäft des Pharmadienstleisters Vetter verändert". Südkurier (in German). 29 September 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  25. ^ "Vetter eröffnet Büro in China". Schwäbische Zeitung (in German). 12 March 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  26. ^ Rosenberger, Walther. "Für Vetter wird Oberschwaben zu klein". Südkurier (in German). 8 February 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Vetter Pharma trotzt allen Stürmen". Schwäbische Zeitung (in German). 18 November 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  28. ^ Sharon Theimer (7 December 2010). "U.S.: WikiLeaks release a hit list for al-Qaida". Army Times. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  29. ^ "Sustainable Impact Award: „Es ist eine Illusion, dass wir so weitermachen können"" [Sustainable Impact Award: "It is an illusion that we can go on like this"]. Wirtschaftswoche (in German). 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  30. ^ "Vetter gewinnt Sustainable Impact Award zum zweiten Mal in Folge" [Vetter wins Sustainable Impact Award for the second time in a row]. wochenblatt-online.de (in German). 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  31. ^ "Umweltmanagement-Preis 2023 zeichnet zehn Unternehmen für hervorragende Umweltleistungen aus" [Environmental Management Award 2023 honors ten companies for outstanding environmental performance]. bmuv.de (in German). 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2024-04-11.

External links edit

 
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Vetter Pharma Homepage

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