The contract research organisation (CRO) and small-scale API manufacturer, Onyx Scientific, is investing in an additional site located adjacent to its existing facility in Northeast England to help its clients accelerate candidates from discovery to production.
Its additional space will primarily be used to increase its laboratory facilities, GMP suites and allocate space for storage of GMP materials. As part of the expansion initiative, Onyx Scientific has recruited several more chemists to support clients’ preclinical, development and early stage API manufacturing projects.
Denise Bowser, Commercial Director at Onyx Scientific, said: ‘It’s been a challenging few years for CROs across the industry; but, our team has continued to work hard to always exceed clients’ expectations, which has led to a very loyal customer base and regular repeat business. 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.’
‘We remain committed to supporting drug developers across the globe with routine chemistry and overcoming early stage complex chemistry challenges to allow them to progress, scale-up and meet clinical deadline with robust lead candidates,’ she added.
This latest venture follows investment last year to grow its GMP space following an increase in demand for its small-scale API manufacturing services. Established in 2000, Onyx Scientific now provides clients with API production in 50–100L equipment, according to current GMP regulations, which fits with its earlier stage custom synthesis, lead optimisation and analytical services.
Bowser concluded: ‘The decision to expand into an additional building has been driven by increased demand for GMP services as well as continuous flow projects and solid state chemistry, which has fully utilised our resources during the past 12 months.’
Alongside its work with Big Pharma, Onyx Scientific is a preferred partner for many specialty drug development firms and biotech organisations, supporting them with rapid progress from lead optimisation through Phase I–II. From its site in the UK, Onyx is then able to scale-up, tech transfer and increase efficiency using its parent company’s large-scale API manufacturing sites in India.