• Read more about What sustainability efforts are you making?

SGD Pharma aims to reduce its CO 2 emissions by 5% per tons of goods produced. This equates to a saving of over 10,000 tons of CO 2 by 2025. We are planning to achieve this via:

Participation in FEVE Furnace of the Future Initiative:
We are one of 20 companies from the glass industry who have joined forces to create, fund and test a pilot furnace project. This will be the world’s first large-scale hybrid oxy-fuel furnace to run on 80% renewable electricity. This will replace current fossil-fuel energy sources and reduce CO 2 emissions by 50%.

• Read more about What facility and plant investments are you making?

Between 2020 and 2025, we will rebuild all our 7 furnaces and upgrade them with new technologies (live monitoring systems, better thermal insulation, increased electric boosting). These improvements will eventually enable us to improve our overall energy efficiency by at least 7% by 2025.

• Read more about How does the vaccine demand impact your production capabilities?

Our SQLM site in Normandy, France, has a new operations facility opened in 2013 and the Vemula state-of- the-art plant in India was completed in February 2018, with new furnaces, each with ISO 8 cleanrooms (1700m 2 and 2400 m 2 ) Together these plants offer 31,800m 2 and 11,000m 2 , yielding a production capacity of 1.5 million vials and ampoules daily from SQLM and 1 million vials a day from Vemula. This, together with our ex-stock capacity, allows us to meet the vaccine demand while still servicing our other customers.

• Read more about How is SGD Pharma ready to meet this challenge?

To help prepare this vaccine for worldwide distribution, SGD Pharma is offering access to our entire manufacturing output from our state-of-the-art ISO 15378 certified plant in Normandy, France, where our daily capacity stands at 400 to 500Ku of internationally recognized Type I neutral molded glass vials, available in many sizes including 10ml, 20ml, 30ml and 50ml.

• Read more about What features of Type I molded glass make it suitable for the vaccine?

Our Type I molded glass vials are resistant and chemically inert (thanks to their high hydrolytic resistance), making them a relevant solution to complete the Type I tubular glass vials offering and respond to this unprecedented surge in demand. They are ideal both to store and transport vaccines globally.

• Read more about How has COVID-19 impacted the business?

During 2020, SGD Pharma continued its daily operations and even improved performance in all plants, strengthened clients’ trust and gained market shares, accelerated R&D capabilities, and recruited and improved training efforts. Our plants in Asia and Europe are all subject to the highest level of safety measures to ensure the health and safety of employees while continuing manufacturing operations.

• Read more about Who are your customers?

The customers of SGD Pharma include global pharma, biopharma, generics and vaccine manufacturers, as well as the cosmetics industry (particularly in China).

• Read more about Where is Type I glass used and why?

Type I borosilicate glass is used for packaging parenteral drugs. It is the ideal material due to its inertness and chemical stability, which limits interactions with the drug and protects its value as well as patient safety.

• Read more about What are the specialisms of each of your factories?

Two plants are best-in-class facilities dedicated to Type I glass (Saint-Quentin-Lamotte (SQLM) in Northern France and Vemula in India). SQLM is a Center of Excellence for Type I molded glass. Type II glass for anesthetics is produced in Sucy-en-Brie, France and Kipfenberg, Germany. Type III amber glass for analgesics is produced in Sucy-en-Brie. All manufacturing facilities are ISO 15378 certified. Vemula, India is also ISO 14001 and 18001 accredited.

• Read more about What are your volumes?

We produce over 8 million vials and bottles per day, across plants in Europe and Asia. More than 2 billion vials are manufactured and sold per year.