Austria-based plastic packaging and recycling firm Alpla Group has formed a joint venture with Spanish packaging company Inden Pharma. The JV will help to expand its presence in the pharmaceutical packaging market. The companies will produce bottles, containers and closures in clean rooms.

The JV will make use of ALPLApharma’s production sites in Greece and Poland, as well as Inden Pharma’s two facilities in Spain. Alpla Group and Inden Pharma will also build a facility in Markdorf, Germany.

These facilities will produce around 800 million pharmaceutical packaging products in total this year. The partners plan to increase their capacity by 300 per cent over the next five years.

Inden Pharma will integrate its standard products into the joint catalogue of ALPLApharma and Inden Pharma products. The company currently provides more than 550 million containers each year, operating in 35 countries on five continents. The partners plan to expand their geographical presence outside Europe into areas such as India, the US, Central America and South America.