B U F F A L O N E W S
Fresenius SE, the largest European manufacturer of intravenous drugs, completed its $4.6 billion acquisition Wednesday of injectable generic drug maker APP Pharmaceuticals, which is expanding its Grand Island operations.
The purchase will make APP the North American platform for Fresenius, Patrick Soon-Shiong, APP’s chairman, said in a statement.
APP is buying the neighboring Astellas drug manufacturing plant on Grand Island, at 3125 Staley Road, as part of a $12 million expansion project that is expected to add about 40 new jobs to the APP’s local work force.
The deal allows Fresenius to enter the U. S. market for generic injectable drugs used in hospitals. Chicago-based APP has a line of more than 100 products that are administered through injections. The Grand Island plant is one of three manufacturing facilities that APP operates in the United States.
APP employs about 530 people at its neighboring plant at 3159 Staley Road.
Astellas will continue making Protopic, an ointment used to treat atopic dermatitis, at the Grand Island plant until production shifts to a factory in Toyama, Japan, next spring.