INNOVATOR IN THE
ANTIBIOTIC ARENA Xellia is a speciality pharmaceutical company and a global leader in the development and manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage form products (FDFs), mainly in the antiinfective segment. Philip Yorke talked to Carl Aake Carlsson, the company’s president and CEO, about its latest pipeline products and new delivery system platforms.
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ellia can trace its roots back more than 100 years to a small, apothecary business that was founded by a group of pharmacists in Oslo, Norway in 1903. After initial success with traditional remedies, the company experienced a financial downturn in the 1930s. Under new, visionary management, the company was invigorated and took up production of the new ‘miracle drug’, penicillin and a few other, selected antibiotics, in the late 40s and early 50s. This landmark achievement heralded the beginning of a long and propitious journey for Xellia into manufacturing and sales of a range of fermentation-based and semi-synthetic antibiotics. Xellia is currently a world leading supplier of vancomycin, bacitracin, polymyxin B, colistimethate sodium (CMS) and amphotericin B, in addition to several other antibacterial and antifungal substances and a few corticosteroids.
220 Industry Europe
Xellia is a privately owned company that operates five highly automated, state-ofthe-art manufacturing facilities. These are located in Denmark, Norway, Hungary and China, and work under strict regulatory control with long-standing approvals from all relevant authorities, including the US FDA. The company is also present with sales offices and labs in Chicago, Singapore, Tokyo and Zagreb. Xellia sales are continuing to grow in the 70 or more countries where it is operational and it currently serves over 700 pharmaceutical and healthcare customers. In order to meet the increasing global demands for new formulations and treatments, the company is developing advanced dosage forms using its own active pharmaceutical ingredients. These comprise innovative, proprietary delivery systems and formulations designed for use in topical, inhaled
and injectable applications. Most of the company’s APIs are available both in bulk and as selected FDFs. Xellia is seeing consistent growth in all areas of its operations, both in its highquality fermented and semi-synthetic APIs as well as in its FDFs and delivery system products. Today, Xellia employs more than 850 people worldwide and in 2012 recorded sales of approximately $ 220m.
Improving antibiotic productivity and quality In order to provide customers with highquality products at a competitive price, Xellia continuously strives to enhance its processes and to optimise productivity. Key technologies include advanced methods for microbial strain development such as metabolic engineering, as well as fully automated, state-of-the art fermentation and purification processes.
