The project, which is expected to last around three months, will be carried out at SCM’s facility in Northumberland, UK. The product will then be shipped for packaging at a Sanofi unit prior to distribution to clinical trial sites across Europe.
A spokesman from Sanofi’s analytical sciences dept said that: “Due to the nature of this product, we required a specialist manufacturing partner, ideally in the UK.
“Given SCM Pharma’s ability to handle radiolabelled compounds under aseptic conditions, it seemed the ideal opportunity to work with them to help us deliver this key stage of the overall project.”
The drug covered by the agreement is currently being examined in cancer indications at clinical trial centre’s in Europe, although further details have not yet been released.
SCM managing director Shirley Dann said: “We are very pleased to be working with Sanofi on such an innovative project. The requirements fit very well with our strengths of handling radiolabelled compounds and utilising our aseptic processing capability.
“This is the latest of several high-profile pharmaceutical companies we are working with and is very encouraging for the business in terms of confirming our unique offering of difficult, short-medium run and specialist services in the market.”
SCM claims that its radiopharma offering, which is designed for drugs at both the preclinical and clinical stages, can reduce the cost of developing new drugs by reducing manufacturing timescales.
SCM offers some of the most advanced cleanroom facilities in the UK and also recently launched a biologics service to complement its existing aseptic offering and terminal sterilisation offerings.