news related to pharma plant

Found this in my cruising, must have caught up with Wayne Miller VP.

The Daily Business Buzz
Topics : Products , Health Canada , Stirling Pharma , Cape Breton , Australia , Keata
[NORTH SYDNEY, NS] ? A silent pharmaceutical plant in Cape Breton has been waiting for months to move forward but remains confident that it will soon be of use.

Stirling Products Ltd. was purchased a year ago from the bankrupt Keata Pharma.

It has been an uphill battle since then.

Wayne Miller, vice president of sales and marketing with Stirling, said its first challenge was to re-license the plant with Health Canada, which became official in January, 2011 after a November audit.

Unfortunately, during that time, Stirling received grim news from its Australian parent company Stirling Pharma ? the company hit a financial bump coming out of the recession and could not provide financing for the Cape Breton start up.

?That really put a slow down on all the operations,? said Miller who noted that the plant had been getting back up to speed.

Without the financing, there are limitations as to what the company can achieve in the meantime, he said.

?We can talk to companies about contracts but you need to put the money upfront when you are purchasing raw materials."

They have a number of potential contract suitors in mind but cannot officially engage in negotiations until they have the capital to officially go out and court companies ? the kind of thing that can?t be done over the phone.

Miller said that the team in Cape Breton is constantly in contact with its parent in Australia as it works out its fiscal shortcomings. He remains confident there will be a positive resolution.

?We are one of the key assets in their portfolio,? said Miller.

Originally the Keata plant was built with the help of Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, a Federal Crown company. ECBC provided $6.5 million in loans and equity for the $15 million plant, with the promise of creating up to 150 jobs within the first three years of operation.

Miller said Stirling is less optimistic about the job numbers but will still be creating work.

?We?re probably projecting a half or a quarter of that,? he said.

However, he is confident in the future of the operation once the money is in place.

?We?re a start-up company and have only been here for a year and we?ve taken over a failed plant,? he said. ?We have a great team in place now. Not only is this going to be good for Cape Breton, it will be good for Nova Scotia.?