The firm has bought a Niro Mobile Minor system for its good manufacturing practices (GMP) facility at Nottingham’s MediCity complex.
Quotient said the technology – which is due to be operational this year – is a direct response to customer requests for ongoing product development support, including toxicology and later stage clinical studies.
Nikki Whitfield, VP of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said: “Poor solubility is increasingly prevalent in drug pipelines across the industry.
“We have established a broad suite of formulation approaches within our Translational Pharmaceutics platform to address these complex solubility and bioavailability challenges, and this latest investment will allow us to efficiently scale up the production of optimised formulations to support our clients’ downstream clinical development programs.”
The investment is the first Quotient has made since it was acquired by GHO Capital, an investment fund backed by Quintiles founder Dennis Gillings.
Quotient has two facilities in the UK: an 85 bed Phase I site in Nottingham that has an integrated drug manufacturing facility; and a site in Edinburgh that houses the companies' biometrics, analysis and clinical trial data reporting operations.
The firm announced its intention to double manufacturing capacity at the Nottingham site in 2015.
At the time CEO Mark Egerton told us new business wins prompted the investment.
“We have made significant progress over the past 12 months surpassing all expectations, with growth rates well above industry norms. Our growing customer base, coupled with the positive dynamics of the pharma R&D outsourcing market, have been the key drivers behind our decision to increase our operating capacity.”