Stevanato Group And Corning Incorporated Sign Licensing Agreement To Offer Corning Valor® Glass Vials In Presterilized SG EZ-fill® Packaging Configuration

The partnership offers the industry an enhanced product with improved chemical durability and world-class ready-to-use expertise, serving early stage drug development through marketed drug manufacturing.

Piombino Dese (PD), Italy – Stevanato Group today announced a licensing agreement with Corning Incorporated to offer a combined solution that will provide biopharmaceutical companies with improved levels of protection for injectable drugs while enabling smoother manufacturing operations.

A new product, Corning Valor^® RTU Vials with SG EZ-fill^® Technology, offers the industry the unique combination of Corning Valor^® Glass vial attributes with SG EZ-fill^® integration and packaging advantages, including:

• Stevanato Group’s EZ-fill^® secondary packaging solution eliminates a step in drug manufacturing and production by allowing pharmaceutical and biotech companies to use the SG EZ-fill^® presterilized containers without having to go through additional wash and sterilization processes. The SG EZ-fill^® solution provides a fully integrated, ready-to-use (RTU) option for aseptic fill-finish operations. Available in formats ranging from 2R to 30R and in both Nest & Tub and Tray configurations, the secondary packaging stores vials and cartridges safely, allowing more efficient, flexible, and streamlined production operations and shortening time to market.
   
• Valor Glass is a purpose-built pharmaceutical package designed to address the challenges of today’s manufacturing operations. Valor Glass is chemically durable with uniform surface chemistry. It resists damage and breakage, eliminates delamination, and reduces glass particulate generation. Valor Glass is the result of Corning’s extensive expertise in glass science, optical physics, vapor deposition, precision forming, and extrusion. Valor Glass enhances the storage and delivery of drugs, provides more reliable access to medicines essential to public health, and optimizes manufacturing efficiency.

“Corning is thrilled to expand our packaging portfolio by offering Corning Valor® RTU Vials with SG EZ-fill^® Technology.  This agreement marks an exciting step forward as we build a full suite of pharmaceutical glass packaging solutions,” said Brendan Mosher, vice president and general manager, Corning Pharmaceutical Technologies. “The combination of Corning’s purpose-built Valor Glass and Stevanato Group’s RTU technology is a win-win for the industry; our expanded offering increases speed-to-market while improving primary packaging quality and performance.”

Stevanato Group, a leading global provider of drug containment, drug delivery, and diagnostic solutions, designed its SG EZ-fill^® secondary packaging to store glass containers safely in a tray or Nest & Tub configuration for efficient filling, while minimizing glass-to-glass contact. The platform – launched in 2010 – is the ideal solution from lab-scale filling to the industrial filling process.

"The agreement with Corning represents another milestone for the SG EZ-fill^® presterilized platform," said Andrea Zambon, corporate business development director at Stevanato Group. "The partnership reinforces our technology leadership and market position in secondary packaging for aseptic manufacturing. By choosing our cost-efficient, scalable solution, Corning has opted for an industry-verified platform that has a proven track record of success with over 30 fill-finish machine manufacturers on more than 250 filling lines."

Valor is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated
SG EZ-fill is a registered trademark of Nuova Ompi, a Stevanato Group company

Stevanato Group Product Information Contact:
Andrea Zambon, andrea.zambon@stevanatogroup.com

Stevanato Group Media Relations Contact:
Finsbury Glover Hering

U.S.

Kal Goldberg
+1.917.741.1013
Kal.Goldberg@fgh.com

Rowley Hudson
+1.917.751.3889
Rowley.Hudson@fgh.com

Europe

Edward Simpkins
+44.7947.740.551
edward.simpkins@fgh.com

Corning Media Relations Contact:
Pamela Porter
(607) 974-9980
porterpw@corning.com

Corning Pharmaceutical Technologies Media Contact:
Amy Washco
(828) 228-7230
Washcoa@corning.com

Corning Investor Relations Contact:
Ann H.S. Nicholson
(607) 974-6716
Nicholsoas@corning.com

About Stevanato Group

Founded in 1949, Stevanato Group is one of the world's largest providers of integrated containment and delivery solutions for the biopharmaceutical industry. From the beginning, the Group has developed its own glass forming technology to ensure quality of the highest standards. The Group includes a wide range of skills dedicated to serving the biopharmaceutical and diagnostic industry. It offers glass containers with its historic Ompi brand, plastic components for diagnostics and medical devices, contract manufacturing services for drug delivery systems, up to inspection, assembly and packaging machines. The Group also provides analytical services and tests that study the interaction between container and drug and integration into delivery systems, supporting the drug development process. By bringing together several skills under the same entity, Stevanato Group is able to offer unique solutions to companies by reducing the time to market and the overall cost.

For more information, please visit www.stevanatogroup.com

About Corning

Corning (www.corning.com) is one of the world's leading innovators in materials science, with a 170-year track record of life-changing inventions. Corning applies its unparalleled expertise in glass science, ceramic science, and optical physics along with its deep manufacturing and engineering capabilities to develop category-defining products that transform industries and enhance people's lives. Corning succeeds through sustained investment in RD&E, a unique combination of material and process innovation, and deep, trust-based relationships with customers who are global leaders in their industries. Corning's capabilities are versatile and synergistic, which allows the company to evolve to meet changing market needs, while also helping our customers capture new opportunities in dynamic industries. Today, Corning's markets include mobile consumer electronics, optical communications, automotive -, life sciences, and display.