Denise Bowser, Commercial Director, told in-Pharmatechnologist.com the company has spent £80,000 ($137,000) on equipment for its premises in Sunderland, northeast England citing customer demand for flexibility during process development.
Pharmaceutical clients ask for continuous flow during product R&D, she said, for “a wider range of conditions for certain experiments,” particularly surrounding hazardous reactions. “For us it’s a good thing to have the technology to give the clients full availability.”
She added that continuous flow would make better use of the company’s space, give quicker output, and provide greater flexibility in compound manufacturing.
Continuous flow manufacturing – a technique that aims to lower costs and waste by integrating all stages of production – is “a very small area,” Bowser told us. The majority of Onyx’s API manufacturing will continue to be batch work, she said; “we’re just giving our clients further scope for developing using different techniques.”
API investment
The equipment purchase comes as part of a wider investment initiative, with Onyx announcing it is increasing its GMP manufacturing capacity with extra vessels, following increased demand for GMP API manufacturing services for drug development.
The company reported a 45% rise in solid-state chemistry-related revenues last year, which it said was driven by early stage campaigns.
In May this year, it completed an API manufacturing deal for US firm Neuronascent, producing a 1kg consignment for use in the neurology company’s marketing authorisation submission to the US Food and Drug Administration.
As well as its Sunderland-based laboratories, Onyx has access to seven API sites in India for technology transfer, pilot-scale work, and manufacturing for Phase II through to commercial.