Drug maker completes purchase of Kremers

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The sale of Jackson County’s third-largest industrial employer for $1.23 billion to a Philadelphia company was wrapped up Nov. 27.

Lannett Co. Inc. announced its plans in September to purchase Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty generic pharmaceuticals subsidiary of Belgium-based UCB S.A., after the boards of both companies approved the sale.

Kremers Urban, which has 690 employees, has a 381,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on a 4.19-acre site at 1101 W. C Ave. in the Freeman Field Industrial Park in Seymour and commercial offices in Princeton, New Jersey.

Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., said he has been aware of the sale for some time now and has spoken with management at Kremers Urban about its possible impact.

“In our conversations with the Kremers Urban management, they are very positive about the sale and believe Seymour and Jackson County potentially will benefit from future growth,” Plump said. “We certainly support Kremers and the new management going forward.”

The acquisition by Lannett,a 73-year-old company, adds a diversified commercial portfolio of 18 products to its existing portfolio, according to a news release from the company. The combined companies generated revenues of more than $800 million for the 12 months ending June 30.

Kremers Urban has 11 product applications pending with the federal Food and Drug Administration and 17 product candidates in various stages of development.

Kremers Urban brings additional research and development and regulatory expertise, particularly in the area of difficult-to-manufacture products.

As part of the transaction, Lannett will receive Kremers Urban’s recently inspected state-of-the-art facility in Seymour, which has substantial manufacturing and warehousing capacity and dedicated product development space, according to the news release. Cost savings are anticipated immediately following the transaction and increasing to more than $40 million annually after the third year.

UCB, a Brussels, Belgium-based company, reconfirmed its plans to use the proceeds from divestiture of Kremers Urban to reduce indebtedness and increase the company’s capacity for strategic investments, to further accelerate growth and/or to further strengthen its innovative medicines pipeline.

UCB purchased Schwarz Pharma, which became Kremers Urban, in 2006.

In October 2014, the company announced plans to add warehouse space on the southwest corner of its property at Freeman Field. The $6 million expansion was designed to free up space for more manufacturing.

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