Nypro expands its medical footprint

Nypro is expanding its Asheville, NC plant for the second time in 12 months as demand grows for molded healthcare products.

 The new business results from a $7.2 million alliance with pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline to produce parts for respiratory inhalers, according to an announcement from the Economic Development

Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County (EDC).

"This alliance is part of our strategic partnership with GlaxoSmithKline and our plan to expand healthcare plastics manufacturing at key sites around the world," says Joe Freitas, Nypro's plant manager in Asheville. "We competed aggressively for this business, and owe a debt of gratitude to the world-class staff in Asheville whose reputation for quality and excellence is recognized by our customers worldwide."

The investment in new equipment will result in the addition of 26 production and engineering jobs to the current workforce of 275 employees.

A year ago, Nypro announced an $83 million investment to add 75,000 square feet of space to its Asheville plant. That investment was done in tandem with Novo Nordisk to produce a next-generation injectable insulin pen. Novo Nordisk is a healthcare products manufacturer based in Denmark.

Proprietary lines are growing too

Nypro has also been expanding its proprietary medical business as well.

Two years ago, NP Medical, which was formed in 1981, invested $5 million in a 20,000 square foot clean room in Clinton, MA, doubling its production of medical check valves and other medical devices.

The NP Medical product line dates to the first patented intravenous in-line check valve designed for one-way flow of intravenous medications. The company says its patented  valve has unique properties that provide consistent opening pressure and flow characteristics for medical applications.

Its design includes a preloaded, normally closed latex-free silicone diaphragm that allows flow in one direction while checking flow in the opposite direction. It is composed of a sonically bonded, DEHP free, thermoplastic body and an elastomeric diaphragm.

NP Medical products are found in medical devices for IV infusion therapy, anesthesia applications, parenteral feeding, blood and fluid sampling and oncology therapies in such markets as cardiology, urology, oncology, anesthesiology, radiology and dialysis. More than one billion valves have been manufactured in Clinton and at a plant in Singapore.  Nypro has been assigned 34 U.S. patents.