In addition to manufacturing space, the facility houses an independent instrument, chemical, micro, laminar flow and packing material testing laboratory that is compliant with both US and European Pharmacopoeia standards.
The plant also features a dedicated labelling line capable of printing directly onto the surface of the manufactured capsules which, Terrene believes, can significantly enhance both patient safety and brand identity.
Terrene VP Bhavin Patel stressed that: “Before production, all raw materials are quarantined and checked to ensure strict compliance with the relevant Pharmacopoeia standards.
Patel added that: “Our standard capsules are made from BSE-Free gelatine, however we can meet client’s requirement by producing capsules using TSE-Free, Halal or Kosher certified gelatine.”
He went on to say that the firm is now “actively marketing the product in the US and Europe where both quality and cost are of paramount importance.”
Gelatine is the leading excipient in the pharmaceutical industry and is used in a wide variety of applications ranging from the production of hard and soft drug capsules to film formation and tablet binding.
While surveys like Freedonia’s “Excipients to 2011” report predict that cellulose derivatives will eventually take the top spot, gelatine is expected to maintain a major share of the $2.3bn (€1.6bn) a year pharma excipients market for years to come.
Gelatine also has uses in the food, cosmetics and dietary supplements industries as anything from a flavour enhancer, a source of collagen and the amino acids L-proline, L-hydroxyproline and glycine.