Canadian CRO Patheon has this past week unveiled a new early phase development facility located in Milton Park in Oxfordshire, UK. "
The Milton Park facility was created to meet our customers' growing demand for rapid early phase development capacity in a strategic location ", said Norman Barras, Patheon´s vice president of Pharmaceutical Development Services, Europe.
" Milton Park is one of many significant additions that we plan to make in our development service offerings ", added company CEO Wes Wheeler.
The 13,500 sq. ft. leased facility will focus on the early phase development of solid, semi-solid and oral liquid dosage forms, including the production of clinical trial materials for Phase I and II trials.
Patheon said that its " Quick To Clinic " programmes, which accelerate molecules to clinical trials while minimising active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) requirements, will also be supported at the site.
Meanwhile, US CMO Metrics has now commenced operations in its $18m, 47,000 sq. ft facility addition, which nearly doubles its previous space at the site.
It was commissioned to allow the firm to " dramatically expand services" , which include pharmaceutical formulation, analytical development, clinical trial manufacturing, and validation.
The new addition includes four new analytical laboratories, stability storage facilities, a dedicated cytotoxic and potent compound laboratory, and a new microbiology laboratory.
As part of its plant expansion, Metrics indicated that it is also employing at least 50 additional pharmaceutical scientists and technicians, adding to its current level of 225 staff.
Meanwhile, Welsh firm Penn Pharmaceuticals has also opened a new facility in the country that will allow it to manufacture highly-potent compounds in a contained environment.
The firm's services are focused on producing drugs for clinical trials and company chief executive Peter George said that the demand for high-potency drug manufacturing is strong due to the nature of new treatments such as cancer drugs, many of which require high-potency compounds, emerging from drug pipelines.
George also said that the new facility will allow Penn to further develop the range of services it offers to pharma firms and assist it in its mission to expand further across Europe, in addition to breaking into the lucrative US market.
In other news, Canada's Clairvest Group , along with Clairvest Equity Partners III Limited Partnership, recently announced a combined $20m minority investment in US firm Lyophilization Services of New England (LSNE).
As its name suggests, LSNE is a CMO focused on providing lyophilisation (freeze-drying) services to biopharma and medical device manufacturers and currently operates two facilities: one in Manchester and the other in Bedford, New Hampshire.
Clairvest's investment will assist LSNE in the construction of a third, larger facility to accommodate expected future growth.
The lyophilisation industry is worth an estimated $1.3bn per year and is said to be growing at a double digit rate, driven by the increasing number of biologic drugs being developed, many of which require lyophilisation in order to retain the stability of the API, in addition to a trend amongst biopharma firms to outsource manufacturing to CMOs.
" LSNE represents an opportunity to participate in an attractive and growing niche within contract manufacturing that is being driven by a shift from traditional pharmaceuticals to biologics ," said Ken Rotman, Co-CEO and managing director, Clairvest Group.
" The company has an impressive track record of growth, having doubled its customer base in the last three years ."