More than 200 jobs have been saved following the takeover of AstraZeneca’s doomed Avlon production plant at Avonmouth.
US contract manufacturer Avara Pharmaceutical Services stepped in this week to buy the massive site, pictured, which it described as a centre of excellence, and pledged to keep on all 210 employees.
It said it would continue to manufacture the AstraZeneca products now made at Avlon while also looking to bring new business. 
Investment would go into the site make it a world-class manufacture centre, Avara chiefs said. Drug developers across the globe are increasingly contracting out production to third-party manufacturers such as Avara.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced in December 2014 that it would close Avlon in late 2016 or early 2017 as the patents expired on some of its medicines.
The plant has been producing the active ingredient for AstraZeneca’s cholesterol-lowering Crestor treatment among other drugs.
AstraZeneca’s decision to shut down the plant sparked its leadership team into action to find a buyer which could bring new business to the area.
Connecticut-based Avara, part of a larger manufacturing business, has two other pharmaceutical manufacturing sites and plans to expand its network to up to 10 sites around the world. Last month it acquired a US factory from Japanese pharma firm Astellas.
Site director Gary Butler said: “This really good news after a long period where we thought the site would shut.
“Avara will continue to make and supply the products we currently produce for AstraZeneca and is also looking to bring new products to Avlon.
“As a leadership team we were delighted to be able to tell staff that it would be business as usual into the foreseeable future.”
Avara chief executive officer Tim Tyson added: “The team at Avlon are an experienced and talented team of pharmaceutical manufacturing professionals who operate a high-quality facility and we are delighted to be able to acquire this capability, to continue to serve AstraZeneca and to transition this AstraZeneca centre of excellence into an international pharmaceutical services facility of world-wide excellence and to develop a long-term, profitable growth business at Avlon.”
Avara is a privately owned division of the American Industrial Acquisition Corporation group of companies, which has 60 manufacturing sites and more than 8,500 employees in 15 countries, generating sales of $1.2bn (£900m).
Financial details of the acquisition have not been made public.
