Dive Brief:
- Convatec has outlined plans to invest more than $1 billion in research and development facilities in the U.S. and U.K. over the next decade.
- The commitment, which the company made last week, includes $600 million that is earmarked for U.S. activities. Convatec is planning to increase its capacity in Boston by 50%.
- In the U.K., Convatec is moving R&D from Wales to a site in Manchester as part of a $650 million investment. The company will continue to operate a manufacturing plant at the site in Wales.
Dive Insight:
Convatec sells devices for managing chronic conditions. In its 2024 annual report, the company said it was the No. 1 provider of disposable infusion sets globally and the top seller of urinary continence products and services in the U.S. Convatec also claimed No. 3 positions in the global advanced wound and ostomy care markets.
The company generated revenues of $2.3 billion last year. Convatec is on track to increase sales this year, with infusion care leading growth across the business units in the first half of 2025. North America accounted for 56% of sales in Convatec’s interim results for the first six months of the year.
Currently, more than 10% of Convatec’s 10,000 global employees are based in the U.S., a spokesperson said via email. The company is growing its U.S. headcount, including through investment in an expanded R&D facility in Boston.
Convatec expects to complete the Boston expansion by the end of 2025. In addition to increasing capacity, the investment is intended to enhance its lab, testing and collaboration space. The Boston expansion is part of Convatec’s 10-year R&D spending commitment in the U.S., the company’s biggest commercial market.
The company’s investment in the U.K. will move R&D from a site in Deeside, North Wales. Deeside has been a major R&D center for Convatec since 1996. Now, the company is planning to move its R&D team around 40 miles to a facility in Manchester, a larger urban area with leading universities, hospitals and research institutions.
Convatec’s Manchester facility, which is scheduled to open in 2027, will be located at a major hospital. The company plans to employ around 200 people in Manchester, most of whom it expects to transfer from Deeside. Convatec intends to continue to employ around 400 people in manufacturing in Deeside after R&D moves to Manchester.
The company included a note about the U.K. market environment with its statement about the move to Manchester. Amid a pause in investment by big pharmaceutical companies over a market access row, Convatec said its “plans, subject to government support, reflect our confidence in the U.K.’s future as a global hub.” The company said U.K. policy, legislation, reimbursement decisions and initiatives are critical to its activities.
