February 16, 2022 – One of the UK’s biggest asthma inhaler manufacturers has today announced its intention to invest in its UK manufacturing site to support the development of a new generation of greener inhalers, designed to help support the National Health Service (NHS) to cut a contributor to its emissions. The new inhalers will be manufactured using new propellants, which will cut the Global Warming Potential of the inhalers by over 90%.
Kindeva Drug Delivery L.P. (Kindeva), which has R&D and manufacturing sites in Loughborough and Clitheroe, as well as in Minnesota and California USA, has extended its commitment to manufacturing the next generation of pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) products using lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) propellants in the UK. Kindeva’s inhalation scientists have, for some time, been working with these new propellants across several customer R&D projects. A portfolio of currently marketed products and innovative new products with vastly reduced GWP is rapidly progressing in the development lifecycle.
The new manufacturing line is Kindeva’s second major investment in support of low GWP inhalers, globally, and will be in place by the end of the year. Today’s announcement strengthens Kindeva’s commitment to helping the NHS achieve its Net Zero ambition, following its announcement of investment in its first low GWP inhaler manufacturing line in November 2021. This additional capacity is driven by growing client demand for the new inhalers.
Aaron Mann, Kindeva’s CEO, commented: “We’re delighted to help the NHS go green. Kindeva has several product development, clinical supply, and manufacturing supply projects underway with a diverse portfolio of large global pharmaceutical companies. These partnerships give us confidence to invest in the future and ensure we have the capacity required to supply low GWP pressurized metered-dose inhalers to meet our clients’ needs. Kindeva intends to install this new manufacturing line by the end of 2022 in response to strong customer demand to reserve this capacity now for development and manufacturing.”
The NHS Net Zero Strategy identified inhaler gas as a contributor to the NHS footprint, accounting for around 3% of its emissions[1].
As the next step on this journey, Kindeva is installing this manufacturing line in its Loughborough, UK facility, capable of filling inhalers with the new low GWP alternative propellants, supported by appropriate R&D facilities serving product development needs. Some of these new alternative propellants have upwards of 90% lower GWP than P134a, the greenest propellant used in the industry currently. This is the continuation of a series of facility investments reflecting Kindeva’s long-standing global leadership in inhalation product development and manufacturing.
The company is working closely with its partners to drive the commercialization of a portfolio of existing and new pMDI products containing the new low GWP propellants and currently has several active R&D programs underway. Kindeva’s goal is for the first two pMDI products using alternative propellants to reach the market by 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.
Aaron Mann continued: “We are excited and honored to be able to continue to increase our manufacturing capacity to help support growing demand for sustainable propellant options from our customers. We are leading this transition to next-generation green propellants, just as we led the industry’s move from CFC to HFA propellants in the 1990s by launching the first CFC-free pMDI globally.”
Today’s announcement marks a continuation in the next chapter in Kindeva’s leadership in driving sustainable innovation in pMDIs and, more broadly, complex drug and combination products. As a leading global CDMO, Kindeva’s track record stretches back more than 65 years to the development of the first-ever pMDI. Kindeva also led the industry’s transition from CFC- to HFA-based inhalers in the 1990s, developing the world’s first CFC-free pMDI and the world’s first CFC-free nasal pMDI.
About Kindeva Drug Delivery
Kindeva is a global contract development manufacturing organization focused on drug-device combination products. Kindeva develops and manufactures products across a broad range of complex drug-delivery formats, including autoinjectors, inhalers, transdermal patches, and microneedles. Its service offering spans early-stage feasibility through commercial scale drug product fill-finish, container closure system manufacturing, and drug-device product assembly. Kindeva serves a global client base in the commercial and health security markets from its nine manufacturing and research and development facilities located in the U.S. and U.K. For more information, please visit www.kindevadd.com.
[1] Medicines account for 25% of emissions within the NHS. A small number of medicines account for a large portion of the emissions, and there is already a significant focus on two such groups – anesthetic gases (2% of emissions) and inhalers (3% of emissions) – where emissions occur at the ‘point of use’. https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2020/10/delivering-a-net-zero-national-health-service.pdf