UK contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Aesica Pharmaceuticals has relocated its development and clinical manufacturing services from Nottingham to Queenborough in Kent.
The new development centre has more than twice the capacity of the existing one in Nottingham and provides significant scope for further business expansion, the firm said.
From Queenborough the company now provides API production, formulation development and clinical manufacture through to commercial scale product manufacturing.
Aesica says the new development centre will be a leader in solid and liquid dosage forms, including the ability to manufacture clinical drug product for Phase I to Phase III studies. As the new centre sits on a commercial site, the technical transfer from development to commercial will be a smooth transition for the customer.
The development centre will also be able to handle potent and controlled drugs, mirroring the commercial offering from Queenborough.
Aesica will continue to offer semi-solid development, in addition to inhalation services, with access to technology and knowhow, including metered dose inhalers (MDI) and dry powder inhalers, being provided by Bespak, another company within the Consort Medical Group.
Ian Muir, Managing Director of Aesica Pharmaceuticals, said: 'The move to establish this development centre at Queenborough, with such a fully aligned and comprehensive set of services, forms part of our longer term strategy to meet the future needs of the market and represents a logical evolution for our company. Indeed, it will serve to further enhance our provision of high quality services to our customers in both formulation and drug device development.
'The tech transfer component to this is especially important as it is central to ensuring the efficient and seamless transfer of a product from clinical development into the commercial manufacturing arena.'
Muir continued: 'We now have a centre of excellence for API manufacturing, early to late stage clinical development right the way through to commercial scale production. This means that we offer the market a complete end-to-end service from a single development location.'