Manufacturing news in brief

UK contract manufacturer Aesica has invested £3 million in a high-containment manufacturing facility at its site in Queenborough, Kent, that will be used for making high-potency compounds as well as Schedule II controlled drugs such as opioid analgesics. The unit will be able to handle formulation and packaging of liquid and solid dosage forms, and is due to open in May 2011.

SAFC has amended its alliance with Denmark's Novozymes Biopharma for LONGR3, a growth factor used to boost yields in industrial cell culture applications. The extension gives SAFC exclusive marketing and distribution rights to the LONGR3 technology for an additional 10 years.  SAFC’s marketing manager Michael James said the deal "enhances SAFC's market-leading position as a critical raw material supplier into the biologic and vaccine markets."

Biotechnology company Genmab is selling a 215,000 sq. ft. monoclonal antibody and vaccine manufacturing facility in Minnesota, USA with the help of real estate agency PharmaBiosource Realty.  The manufacturing facility comprises 22,000 litres of mammalian cell culture capacity and a separate product development unit, and is located on 36 acres. It was constructed in 2004 for $200 million.

AMRI has won the inaugural Pfizer Route Design Innovation Award for its innovative approach to process chemistry and large scale active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, beating more than 40 other companies in the contest. Applicants were invited to contribute approaches that improved the cost effectiveness of a specific compound of interest to Pfizer.

Australian drugmaker Stirling Pharmaceuticals has said that its new manufacturing facility in Cape Breton, Canada, should start production in late September. The plant is expected to concentrate initially on the manufacture of bulk acetaminophen and will also offer contract manufacturing. Stirling bought the plant from a Canadian company which went into administration last year.