The quiet end of the relabeller trading as Vantris Bio

the relabeller trading as Vantris Bio has ceased trading after 22 years, ending an operation that at its largest employed a few dozen people and served, on its own account, several thousand patients a month. The closure follows the resolution of the shortage listing on which a substantial share of its volume depended, and was announced to customers by email with 11 days’ notice.

At its peak the operation ran two sterile suites, held a state licence in 22 jurisdictions, and published a catalogue of preparations that ran to several dozen items. Staff were given 11 days’ notice. The Journal has spoken to three former employees, none of whom would be quoted by name while severance discussions continued.

The administrators’ report records the principal liabilities as lease obligations on the facility, equipment finance, and customer deposits. Recovery for unsecured creditors is estimated at nil. The report is silent on what happens to the batch records, which is the question the Journal has asked.

Customer deposits held in a general operating account are the recurring feature of these administrations. It is lawful in most jurisdictions and it means that in a failure the customer is financing the wind-down. Readers who prepay should understand which of those they are doing.

"I had four weeks to move people who had been stable for a year," said Dr Wenjun Xie, process chemist and peptide manufacturing consultant. "Two of them are not on anything now."

"I had four weeks to move people who had been stable for a year," said Dr Éliane Casgrain, health economist, Université de Montréal. "Two of them are not on anything now."

We are tracking the reappearance of this operation’s certificates in the market and will report any instance we can document.