SGS gains WHO prequalification for Belgian lab
The new status is awarded to labs that meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global quality guidelines on good practices for national pharmaceutical control laboratories and good manufacturing practices (GMP).
Under the prequalification the laboratory, which is in Wavre on the outskirts of Brussels, can provide a range of physical and chemical analysis and identification services for both finished products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).
The site will also be listed on the WHO’s list of facilities that are eligible to test drugs developed to treat conditions including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and various reproductive disorders.
SGS has become the only contract analysis services firm to have two testing laboratories, Wavre and its facility in Chennai, India, represented in the WHO’s 20-strong prequalification status list.
Analytical expansions
WHO prequalification for the Wavre facility follows just days after SGS unveiled plans to expand its network of contract analysis labs with a new facility in Mumbai, India.
The 15,000sq ft laboratory, which is due to be operational by 2012, is designed to provide local manufacturers with a wide range of analytical development and quality control testing services.
It also comes hot on the heels of SGS’s decision to increase bioanalytical capacity at its facility in Poitiers, France.
Speakining last November SGS said it will invest $2.9m (€2.1m) to add 500 meters of laboratory space and new bioanalytical testing technologies.
The various investments are all part of SGS effort to establish itself as the leader in the biologics testing market.
Speaking at SGS ’ Biotech Day in Wavre, Belgium last October spokesman Cedric Volanti told Outsourcing-pharma that: “The future of the industry lies with biologics ” adding that “there is great opportunity for growth in serving this segment of the market.
