Excelsyn set for major expansion

UK pharma services group Excelsyn is planning a series of major development for its pharma synthesis business Excelsyn Molecular Developments.

A three-phase $10m asset upgrade and expansion programme has been commissioned for the site in Holywell, North Wales, aimed at increasing capacity and velocity through the plant. The three plants on the site will be upgraded to increase API capability, increase GMP pilot plant capacity and address the shortage of isolation equipment.

The first phase will be completed during the current year and the second phase, which will focus on enhanced cleanroom facilities at 100kg scale, will be ready in 2008.

The design, integration and commissioning of the new assets at Holywell will be the responsibility of Excelsyn Engineering Technology, the group's pharma design-and-build business. Process improvement organisation Britest will advise on process efficiency and intensification.

The molecular developments business has been refocused into two units: development services and commercial services. The development services unit is dedicated to fast turnround of small volume (up to 100kg), preclinical to Phase II projects. As part of this unit, a Synthesis-at-Speed team is being created to accelerate and optimise processes across projects for both external customer service and internal process development teams. This complements the wider 7-day shift working introduced at Holywell last September.

'With 24/7 operations and the Synthesis-at-Speed team we are offering significantly faster solutions to both our customer-facing and internal process development teams,' said managing director David Rowles. 'Early phase project timelines can be up to 50% quicker, while late phase projects also benefit from faster internal service.'

Excelsyn has also just been awarded a grant by the DTI to develop transaminase technology to convert keto acids into amino acids. The £363,000 grant covers a three-year development period.