Welcome to Procaps Group

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Welcome/Visitor Enterance

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Welcome to Procaps Group, a Latin American pharmaceutical group dedicated to offer innovation in health and nutrition to thr world. As one of the leading global providers of advanced delivery technologies and development and manufacturing solutions for pharmaceutical and consumer health products, we are the number one Softgel manufacturer in South and Central America and top five in the world in terms of Softgel production capacity, according to an independent third-party industry analysis report of 2019. We currently operate six manufacturing facilities in Latin America, including the first FDA-approved pharmaceutical plant in South America and Central America, and our first U.S.-based Softgel production facility and R&D center, employing over 5,000 people across 13 countries. Our Softgel facilities are located in Colombia, Brazil and the US.

Investing for growth and creating enjoyable consumer experiences is what we offer, and today we have we opened our doors of our manufacturing and R&D hub located in Barranquilla, Colombia, which you will get to see in a few minutes.

We're glad to have you here, please enjoy the tour.

Accessing our locations begins at the visitor lobby, where you will be asked to present your ID and you will be given a visitor badge. Someone from our staff will accompany you throughout your visit.

Before you enter, it is important to point-out that as a global pharmaceutical group, Procaps Groups´ innovation and growth comes as a result of two business models: Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). Through our Business 2 consumer model, Innovation sits at the heart of our business and we continuously develop new products and formats in both prescription and consumer brands sold through different channels and markets in 11 countries accros LatAm.

In our Business to business model, we offer health and nutrition solutions to companies around the world through our advanced softgel technological platforms, by not only manufacturing, but also developing products, turning initial ideas into winning solutions for all types of patients and consumers around the globe. This is what you will see throughout the virtual tour, Welcome once again to Procaps Group.

Product Innovation

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As a leading marketer of advanced-softgel related technologies, Procaps Group offers, Contract manufacturing and Product Development Services of pharmaceutical products, nutritional supplements, veterinary and cosmetic solutions. We offer Market Solutions, concepts and formulations that are backed by our R&D expertise, data analysis and latest consumer and market trends. The result? The development of top-knotch products levereged by innovative platforms.

At Procaps Group, we think B2C and act B2B.

Product Development

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Our Product Development Site is composed of our R&D equipment lab, Pilot Plant and R&D offices, where our teams are continuously working on the development of new formulations and pharmaceutical technologies, developing and launching new products in our broad suite of drug delivery systems.

Our corporate culture focuses on innovation and R&D, which has enabled us to offer extensive scientific expertise with more than 300 scientists, technicians and skilled personnel, allowing us to develop an average of over 150 new products per year over the last three years.

This area is the R&D Lab, mainly composed of

• 50+ formulation scientists.

• 22 MsC in Pharmaceutical Sciences.

• 4 PhDs.

And Devoted teams for client/market, offering different services and capabilities such as:

• Pre-formulation

• Formulation

• Scale-up

• Tech Transfer

• Analytical development and validation

• Stability studies

Regulatory support through all stages.

In-house Engineering

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As a vertically integrated CDMO, we strive for efficiency by producing our own gelatin, designing and producing our own equipment and tooling, and manufacturing our own packaging and labeling. Equipment, molds, and parts are designed and built here at our in-house engineering division called Innovant, a 341 sqm area established in 1992 to generate self-sufficiency in the design and manufacturing of our own technology. With CAD / CAM and SOLID WORK computerized systems, we design capsule molds in all shapes and sizes according to the needs of our customers. We also build spare parts and even manufacture our own encapsulating machines, as well as packaging formats.

This technical self-sufficient workshop ensures a high degree of flexibility and responsiveness to meet the requirements of the markets we cater. Here at Innovant, 28+ patents on technologies, machinery and processes have been developed and submitted around the world. A team of 30+ engineers and electro mechanical technicians are at your disposal. This is were our vertical integration drives innovation

Warehouse & Warehouse & Receiving

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At our main warehouse we have 6 docks equipped with the necessary tools for our operation, 2 of them serving to receive and 4 to send our products around the world. The warehouse is subdivided into general storage areas, specific areas for materials that require it, all temperature controlled and monitored 24 hours a day to ensure that our materials and products are stored, handled and delivered properly. Here we can store raw materials, packaging materials, bulk, finished product and of course, we have designated areas depending on the type of product or material that are available according to demand.

We have an access control system to our facilities under facial and biometric control, which allows access to the warehouse entrance only to authorized personnel. Additional security camera coverage is available at each corridor monitoring our operation 24 hours a day. We have two types of shelves. We have two pallet storage racks with nine levels of height that add up to 4,100 positions. The second type of shelving is a Mezzanine type for material handling with 1800 positions.

This is also strategically located below our manufacturing facilities so the transit between them runs seamlessly.

Gelatin Preparation & Manufacturing

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In this stop, the gelatin, which is the most used ingredient of the soft gelatin capsules, is received and transferred into holding tanks. Liquid and solid raw materials are added into automated gelatin reactor tanks, the reactor surrounded by a thermal jacket heats the mixture while a very high torque propeller mixer stirs it under vacuum. In this area we have a distributed and scalable architecture, that provides maximum process variable control, we have a HMI server that stores all of the product components, allowing automated operation that monitor plant-floor operations, extending visualization and real-time decision capabilities.

Procaps produces its own gelatin, giving us the most sophisticated knowledge in the soft gelatin capsule production. With our deep knowledge in gelatin formulation, we work with more than 10 gelatin sources and more than 50 different gelatin formulations.

Medicine Preparation

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Medicine of solutions and suspensions, based on Hydrophilic and/or lypophilic contents, are prepared in this area. We have automated equipment for Real-time process supervision, Optimum process variable control, execution procedure control based on standardized medicine formulations, all of these controlled by GMP software according to current regulations. We count with 8 reactor vessels of different sizes and conditions so that we are flexible enough to manufacture all kinds of products and batch sizes.

Softgel Manufacturing

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Encapsulation is the softgel manufacturing process that brings the gelatin shell and the fill material together to form the Softgel capsules, a.k.a. the final product. Here we can encapsulate traditional softgels, as well as our innovative softgel patented technologies which are Unigel, Versagel, Chewgels and Gtabs. Due to our softgel innovation department, we design and build our own unique softgel manufacturing equipment, based on our 47+ years of experience, creating high differentiation, innovation and tailor made solutions, based on our customer's requirements. The Softgel Capsule is a solid dosage form composed of two gelatin films that contain semisolid or liquid APIs protected by an external, hermetically sealed cover. Softgels ensure high precision dosage by achieving homogeneity of ingredients. They are also an effective delivery system for oral drugs, especially those with low solubility and/or permeability (BCS class II, III and IV(1)). Eventhough the softgel capsule has been on the market since the 19th century, it is considered a format that has continuously reinvented itself evolving to the present day. Because of this consumers feel familiar with the technology, trusting its efficiency, quality and convenience.

Manufacturing Softgels requires deep expertise in softgel development and the ability to formulate and solve complex formulations. It also requires Strong Intellectual property & Technologies. At Procaps Group, our innovative Platforms are at the Forefront of Softgel Capsule and Related Dosage Forms, technologies that allow us to transform Branded Generics into differentiated products, switch existing products in traditional formats to Softgels, and bring new molecules to the market, all the latter valued by both patients and physicians.

Unigel Manufacturing

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In this stop we introduce Unigel, A First to Market Technology patented by Procaps, which allows the combination of tablets, softgels, and/or hard capsules within a single, larger soft gelatin capsule. It is a unique oral dosage form that allows having tablets, capsules, granules or pellets inside a single, larger soft gelatin capsule. Unigel™ is the only patented technology for fixed dose combinations which incorporates the benefits of soft gelatin capsules – also called softgels. These delivery formats are becoming more popular because they are easy to swallow. They also allow manufacturers to use APIs with poor biopharmaceutical properties, give versatility from a drug release modulation standpoint and ensures high-precision dosage by achieving homogeneity of ingredients. With Unigel™ we highlight the ability to offer different release modes, bioavailability enhancement and lower manufacturing costs, because brands can sell these products using more competitive prices compared to independent compounds. Unigel™ supports elevated patient adherence to various therapies, including the prevention of cardiovascular events and treatment for diabetes and other chronic diseases. It also offers medical benefits in areas like digestive health and joint relief.

In parallel, the environmental advantages of streamlining dosage are significant. An internal study based on a comparative analysis with individual dosage consumption, showed that by using Unigel™ softgel products, patients avoided the production and disposal of 27.5 million blister packs in 2022 alone. Unigel™ also has broader environmental benefits across the supply chain because It reduces the demand for other packaging materials like cardboard, paper, and aluminium foil. Additionally, it optimises storage and distribution, resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions and reducing fuel and energy consumption.

Gtabs Manufacturing

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Another of Procaps innovative technologies is Gtabs, gelatin coated tablets which offer great benefits such as masking unpleasant tastes and odors, easiness of swallowing, ideal for APIs that can irritate the stomach, impossible to counterfeit, plus many others.

Drying Tunnels

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The purpose of the Drying process is to decrease the moisture content to create hard and durable finished Softgel capsules ready for packaging. The First Stage is performed by a tumble dryer. This equipment tumbles the softgels around 30 to 40 minutes per basket and removes approximately 52% of the water content in the softgel capsules. In the Second Stage, Softgel capsules are spread on stackable swallow trays and transferred into the drying rooms or tunnels, where high-speed laminar airflow is present and these are kept in here until they reach the desired moisture content to be inspected by a QA supervisor. In this new facility, we have both inline and static drying.

After Manufacturing

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After the product meets the hardness and residual humidity specs and is pre-approved by QA it can then be transferred to the next stage or stages. These stages are sortring, which segregates the overweighed and underweighted capsules, selection, printing, and packaging. Even though we have an automated inspection machine, we also have a high quality human inspection that cannot be replaced considering our commitment to give our customers the best quality product in the market. We are also able to coat the capsules for specialized products.

Packaging & Blistering

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Our packaging facility has the capability of blistering, bottling and filling (liquids and powders) in bottles, mini packs or stick packs. We have 12+ blistering machines, the smallest and the biggest there is in the market, which will allow us to keep our flexibility promise and be able to have as many options as possible in quantities, batch sizes and finished product size, with the best process control available. A reengineering of the manufacturing and packaging process, along with the implementation of new technologies, allows us to minimize the complete process time between different stages and will improve the quality of our products. We can package in aluminum, pvc, cpvc, aclar, and all the necessary packaging material to guarantee the stability of the final product.

Quality & Finished Product Analysis

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The policy of the Integral Quality System is part of our competitive DNA. We have the structure that supports and updates the requirements of the health authorities that constantly monitor us. Our Quality lab is an area of 1.023 square meters composed of Quality Control and Microbiology laboratories.

In order to comply with regulatory obligations and assure our customers that our products meet the specifications, we count on a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, chemists and scientists on our QA and QC teams. They are in charge of looking after the processes and products based on our strict process standards and product specifications.

Warehousing & Delivery

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Our strategic geographical location, (Colombia, North and South America), allows us to access a number of maritime shipping ports. Our 47+ years' experience of imports and exports, and efficient warehousing and logistics operations gives us the flexibility to deliver all types of drug formulations to any corner of the globe. Here is our 9208 square meter distribution center, were we can efficiently handle warehousing and logistics operations, currently delivering our products to more than 50 countries around the world on 5 continents.

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