Almac to add HPAPI capacity to retain customers’ projects into late phase development

23-Oct-2011 - Last updated on 24-Oct-2011 at 08:12 GMT

Related tags Pharmacology Construction Almac

Almac hopes adding high potency API manufacturing capacity at its plant in Craigavon, Northern Ireland will help it retain early phase projects as they move to late-stage development.

The firm will add new reactor capacity, a clean room and drying equipment capable of producing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in quantities up to 600kg. The construction project is expected to take two years.

Rick Dyer, VP of operations, said: “This expansion allows us to build on our expertise in early phase clinical development projects and further continue our success within late phase projects to clients need not transfer… elsewhere due to a lack of scale.”

This was echoed by Denis Geffroy, VP of business development at Almac, who explained that: “Scale was becoming a limiting factor for some of our client projects and this new capacity is a strong commitment to offer project continuity.”

Almac is one of a number of contract manufacturing organisations (CMO) seeking to build in the HPAPI sector at the moment.

Last week Swiss API maker Carbogen Amcis partnered with formulations specialist Polymun Scientific and today Saltigo announced plans to expand its production facility in Redmond, Washington, US.

Mass Spec lab boost

In other expansion news, Almac says it has set up a dedicated mass spectrometry lab. The new lab, also at the firm’s European HQ in Craigavon, is designed to support customers' analytical needs.

The lab will house systems produced by Agilent Technologies and provide a range of services, including quantitation of genotoxic impurities, bioanalysis, structure elucidation and isotopic purity determination.

Outsourcing-pharma.com will speak with Almac at CPhI in Frankfurt, Germany later this week to bring you further information on the firm’s busy expansion programme.