page_title: Vetter Pharma
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Vetter Pharma / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Vetter Pharma: Mikrobiologisches Labor am US-Standort Chicago English: Inside the microbiology lab at VDS Chicago (Vetter Pharma)
context_page_description: Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG is a contract manufacturer that has supplied the pharmaceutical industry since 1950. The company has production sites in Germany and the U.S., as well as sales offices in Singapore and Japan. The company is an independent international specialist in the aseptic filling of syringes, cartridges and vials, and for assembling safety devices, pens and autoinjectors. With an annual capacity of 400 million units, Vetter is one of the world market leaders in the field of pre-filled injection systems. Its customer base includes both the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as small and mid-sized companies.
context_section_description: The company was founded in 1950 by Helmut Vetter and was originally called the “Apotheker Vetter & Co. Arzneimittel GmbH Ravensburg". In 1958, Helmut Vetter opened a pharmacy and sealed the drugs it manufactured in air- and water-tight packaging. In 1965, his growing enterprise began operating as a contract manufacturer packaging dry and liquid drugs. The company manufactured primarily contact lens solutions and eye drops. In 1975, the company turned its focus to aseptically pre-filled syringes. Vetter founded its first foreign subsidiary in the United States in 1983, Vetter Pharma Turm Inc. (Yardley, Pennsylvania), to handle sales in the United States and Canada. The following year, the company was renamed Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG. In 1988, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Vetter’s Ravensburg facility approval to operate, which opened the U.S. market. At that point, the pharmaceutical service provider had just 350 employees. Two years later, the company invented the dual-chamber syringe, which remains a patented product. Freeze-dried (lyophilized) drug resides in one chamber; liquid in the other. Pushing the plunger mixes the two, reconstituting the drug. The technology prolongs shelf-life, facilitates accurate dosing, and enables
  patients to self-administer. In 1996, a second German production site was established, in Langenargen, and received approval to operate by the FDA two years later. In 2004, the company started construction on a second major site in Ravensburg. Completed at the end of 2006, the Ravensburg Vetter South production facility received permission by the regional board of Tuebingen (the local government) to begin operating at the start of 2007; the FDA gave its production approval in early 2008. At the end of 2007, work began at Ravensburg Vetter South on a new facility to house secondary packaging and began operations in May 2009. At the same site, an analytical laboratory was established in the same year. Also in 2009, the company founded its sales subsidiary Vetter Pharma International GmbH, and named its U.S. sales subsidiary Vetter Pharma International USA Inc. In December 2009, the company dedicated its first U.S. manufacturing facility, located in suburban Chicago. There, Vetter supports preclinical through phase II products to fill syringes, cartridges and vials for use in clinical studies. The facility is an expansion of Vetter Development Service. Once the development phase has been completed, the drug is sent to the company’s commercial facilities for filling in large quantities. The first transfer of this kind from the U.S. to Germany took place two years after the opening of the Chicago facility. In May 2012 Vetter completed its new Center for Visual Inspection and Logistics. With a number of innovative technologies for producing electricity and promoting efficient use of resources, Vetter continues to set high standards in terms of sustainability at its Ravensburg Vetter West facility. Soon after, the building was expanded and modernized to make room for now about 800 employees.  Vetter has increased its focus on the Asian market by opening a sales office in Singapore in 2014. One year later, a subsidiary was opened in Japan  and, in 2015 Vetter announced it would be investing extensively in the modernization and expansion of its facilities in and around Ravensburg.
  Vetter employs approximately 4,300 employees in Germany, U.S. and Asia, and is headquartered in Ravensburg, Germany.
  In addition to the Vetter management team which consists of three managing directors, an independent advisory board also assists the company. The advisory board has been chaired by Udo J. Vetter since 2008. He is also the vice president of a German family enterprise association called Familienunternehmer and of its European counterpart, the European Family Businesses.
caption: Inside the microbiology lab at VDS Chicago
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