NEWS
Piramal upgrading capabilities at UK sites
Indian-based CDMO Piramal Pharma Solutions ( PPS ) is to invest about £ 55 million to expand two sites in the UK . It will expand its antibody-drug conjugate ( ADC ) capabilities at Grangemouth in Scotland and new API infrastructure at Morpeth in north-east England . In the first phase at Grangemouth , two new ADC manufacturing suites will be added to the existing three , for operation by Q3 2023 . The building has been designed to accommodate further expansion , with planned future phases that include a new sterile fill-finish suite dedicated to ADCs and two more large-scale manufacturing suites capable of handling increased batch sizes . This will be fully supported by analytical laboratories for QC , cell-based assay and ELISA , plus warehousing and administrative offices , all housed in a purpose-built facility . A new ‘ customer experience centre is also being built . Groundbreaking took place on 7 February . The new facility sits on a brownfield site close to the existing facilities . Grangemouth already offers rapid development for early clinical materials and scalable late-phase development to support trials and commercial launch . “ By combining these skills with offerings from our other 13 global facilities , including fill-finish , payloads and peptides , we can provide integrated ADC services to customers looking for fast , simplified solutions ,” PPS said . The total £ 45 million investment includes a grant of £ 2.4 million from Scottish Enterprise , Scotland ’ s economic development agency . It is also co-funded by clients to
Breaking ground for the new facility at Grangemouth
facilitate the continued evolution of the business through the commercialisation of products , together with satisfying the strong pipeline of early phase clinical demand . About 40-45 jobs should be created . The approximately £ 10 million investment at Morpeth includes new equipment , infrastructure and utility systems . It is intended to meet increased demand from global API customers , while also improving PPS ’ carbon footprint by replacing obsolete equipment with energy-efficient alternatives . PPS is investing £ 8 million directly , while the UK government is contributing £ 2 million to the project .
New model for Merck
Dirk Lange will head the LSS business
Merck KGaA is making organisational changes and implementing a new operating model to support the long-term growth strategy of its Life Science business sector . New business units will complement the current Life Science structure as of 1 April . The existing CDMO business , which covers monoclonal antibodies ,
HPAPIs , antibody drug conjugates , viral and gene therapies , and the mRNA offering , will be consolidated with the Contract Testing services unit in a new Life Science Services ( LSS ) business . It will be headquartered at Burlington , Massachusetts , and led by Dirk Lange , who joined the firm in February .
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981