Cherokee Wins DuPont Contract

Cherokee Pharmaceuticals has signed a new five-and-a-half-year commercial supply agreement with DuPont Applied BioSciences, a division of DuPont. Cherokee will manufacture a new product for DuPont using a DuPont proprietary fermentation process at its Riverside, PA facility.

Initial production is scheduled to begin in late 2009. Over the term of the contract, production is expected to employ a significant proportion of Cherokee’s fermentation capacity. The manufacturing of this product will create more job opportunities, although the number of additional employees that will be needed is not yet available, according to a company statement. Facility development work has already begun at the Cherokee facility in order to meet the requirements of the proprietary process. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

“We are excited to have this opportunity to work with DuPont, a leader in the biosciences field,” says John Elliot, president of Cherokee Pharmaceuticals. “This agreement is a strong testament to our ability to compete successfully in the global marketplace, even in this tighter economic climate.”

The DuPont contract is consistent with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals’ strategy to diversify its customer base. Since acquiring the facility from Merck in January 2008, Cherokee Pharmaceuticals has initiated the three-fold expansion of its multipurpose manufacturing facility to increase its API manufacturing capacity.

Sign up today for Contracting &Outsourcing 2009!