An exclusive look inside SAFC's HPAPI plant in Verona, Wisconsin

Earlier this year in-Pharmatechnologist visited SAFC’s new high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) manufacturing facility in Verona, Wisconsin to take a look at its capabilities and speak about the market with operations director David Bormett.

Bormett explained that the new plant had been developed using the latest containment technologies to ensure that employees do not come into contact with the potentially toxic compounds being produced there for assessment in clinical trials or for commercial supply.

He added that: "There has been a general trend in the industry to recognise the toxicity of APIs​" going on to say that compounds that had been produced using an open handling approach are now being produced using containment technology to eliminate operator exposure.

And in terms of the wider market, Bormett predicted that the specialist containment and production capabilities required for high potency drug manufacturing are an important growth area for SAFC in terms of business development in the global market.

“We feel there is a trend… moving toward US manufacturing and being to do GMP manufacturing at a larger scale [at the Verona plant] will differentiate us from the competition.”​

He also predicted that, for the foreseeable future, cancer drugs would continue to be the key demand driver, adding that since the Verona facility was completed earlier this year​ SAFC has received interest from drugmakers in Europe, the US and Japan who are interested in using its manufacturing capacity.