Contract manufacturing deals
SCM wins Ketesin filling and testing contract
Contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) SCM Pharma has won a production and analysis contract with fellow UK-based firm ProStrakan.
The five-year deal will see SCM fill test vials of Ketensin, which is a drug that is used to treat hypertensive crisis during and after surgical procedures that ProStrakan sells to hospitals in the Netherlands.
SCM’s focus on niche and low-volume production runs makes it an ideal fit for the contract according to ProStrakan’s senior VP of manufacturing and pharmaceutical sciences David Traynor.
“With regular demand for Ketensin in the Netherlands, we required a manufacturing partner that could not only sterile fill into various sizes of vials and test the finished products, but that could reliably deal with smaller commercial quantities.
This was echoed by SCM managing director Dianne Sharp, who said: “This type of product not only complements our core capability of filling and sterilising small batches of glass vials but also makes optimum use of the in-house microbiology, chemistry and sterility testing services that our facility offers clients.”
Production will take place at the CMO's facility in Northumberland, with the manufacture of process qualification batches scheduled to begin in the near future.
Dalton signs API production deal with Oncovir
Canadian CMO Dalton Pharma Services will provide active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production and asepctic fill/finish services for nucleic acid-based drug developer Oncovir under a contract announced last week.
While details were not provided, Dalton’s work is part of a collaboration with the Cancer Vaccine Acceleration Fund (CVAF) that is focused on Oncovir’s Hiltonol (Poly-ICLC) “immune activator” vaccine platform.
The CMO’s CEO, Peter Pekos, explained that: “Our expert capabilities in the enzymatic manufacture and analysis of complex biopolymers combined with our strength in aseptic filling solidified the manufacturing agreement.”
AMRI gets Italian OK for octreotide production
US contract API maker Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) has received Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) approval to make commercial supplies of octreotide at its facility in Burlington, Massachusetts.
AMRI said it will make octreotide under a contract with a customer based in the European Union but did not name the firm involved.
The drug, which is used to treat acromegaly and diarrhoea, is sold as Sandostatin by Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Octreo by New Medicon Pharma.
