Pharmaceutical outsourcing specialist Quay Pharma completed the first stage of its previously announced move to its new purpose-designed facility in Deeside, North Wales, UK.
The first phase has involved relocating the Analytical Method Development and Formulation Development departments, and Quay has also taken the opportunity to invest in a variety of new equipment to further enhance its range of support services for clients.
A state-of-the-art ion chromatography system has been added to Quay’s portfolio of analytical development instrumentation to support two new projects requiring specialist analytical capability. For most developments, drug substances are assayed using conventional high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet (UV) detection but the compounds involved in these latest projects are transparent to UV light making this standard technique impossible.
The first of the projects concerned is for a leading French biopharmaceutical company, which is seeking to develop products for severe neurological disorders. The system will be used with pulsed amperometry electrochemical detection to monitor extremely low levels of sugars in a combination drug product. The second project, for a new UK pharmaceutical company, involves measurement of a cationic drug (API) and its degradation products by conductivity detection.
The Formulation Development department, which specializes in the development of solid dosages, creams, liquids and gels, has been expanded to include a new pilot facility alongside the laboratory. The pilot lab will offer the capability for early phase work in standard techniques such as tableting, coating and capsule filling, as well as more complex processes such as extrusion spheronisation and semi-solid and liquid filling and banding of capsules. It will assist in the scale up of production prior to full manufacture as well as providing proof of concept studies and samples for pharmacokinetic (PK) studies.
“The move to the new premises has effectively quadrupled the available space for these important departments and will allow us to provide a greatly enhanced range of services to both existing and new customers,” comments Quay Pharma’s Chief Executive Mike Rubinstein.
This news was featured in Drug Discovery & Development magazine: Vol. 13, No. 3, April 2010, pp. 36-37.