Swiss pharmaceutical company Siegfried has announced that it will expand its eye drop production capacity at its plant in El Masnou (Barcelona). This new expansion follows the previously announced expansion of the company’s sterile ophthalmic ointment production capacity at the same facility.

The El Masnou plant, which specialises in ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, exports the products it manufactures to the European market. The new expanded production capacity for sterile ophthalmic ointments will be available to customers in 2026. In terms of eye drop manufacturing capacity, the increase will follow in 2027.

State-of-the-art equipment
Specialising in Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) for the pharmaceutical industry, Siegfried has launched both plans to respond to growing customer demand. The expansion includes the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment designed to comply with European Union GMP Annex 1 guidelines governing the manufacture of sterile medicines.

As the Swiss company’s CEO  Marcel Imwinkelried explained, “We are seeing continued strong demand for ophthalmic products, and the expansion of our El Masnou plant will provide valuable additional capacity to our customers. This expansion expands our global presence in ophthalmic manufacturing and allows us, together with our plant in Irvine (USA), to efficiently serve Europe and the US.”

One hundred years manufacturing pharmaceuticals in El Masnou
This year the Siegfried plant in El Masnou is celebrating its 100^th anniversary, a history which has been dedicated to manufacturing pharmaceutical products, and with a special focus on ophthalmic formulations. In addition to sterile eye drops and ointments, products for nasal and aural use are also manufactured at the facility. In total, it delivers over 100 million treatments a year to patients around the world.

The facility, which employs around 500 people, includes a development and scale-up centre for sterile ophthalmic products. This centre is complemented by the company’s plant in neighbouring Barberà del Vallès, which specialises in manufacturing and packaging oral solid dosage forms, as well as high-potency and inhalation capsules for treating respiratory diseases, and which also employs around 500 people. Siegfried bought both facilities from Novartis in 2021.

^{Photo: Siegfried}