The news is the second expansion within twelve months for the small-scale manufacturer and contract research - a subsidiary of India’s Ipca Laboratories - which last year added a new cleanroom at its site near Newcastle, UK.
That investment was driven by a growing demand from clients for Phase I and II trial material, and similarly this latest expansion - providing a 30% increase in capacity – is also due to increased customer demand for its services.
“The new site will actually be used for both manufacturing APIs and carrying out preclinical development work,” Commercial Director Denise Bowser told this publication. “This has been general demand as opposed to one specific project or client.”
She added the site is expected to be online within the next 6-12 months and in terms of equipment, it will be furnished with more of the same equipment already in place at its existing, adjacent facility.
There are no plans for commercial manufacture of APIs from the UK, she said, as Onyx is able to scale-up successful later-stage projects using its parent company’s large scale API manufacturing sites in India.
Financial Strength
Bowser also said the investment comes off the back of Onyx’s best financial performance in the company’s 15 year history
“Although we have come to the end of a very positive year, we have never been a firm to rest of our laurels. With the support of our parent company Ipca Laboratories, we are very much investing in our physical capacity, equipment and technical resource.”
She did not disclose further financial details when asked, but according to Ipca’s accounts, Onyx brought in sales of 34.4m INR ($507,000) for the twelve months ending March 31 2015, nearly a 500% increase from the previous year.