US life science company Cambrex is adding a fourth reactor suite at its site in High Point, North Carolina, expanding pilot plant capabilities to meet rising demand. The investment of $2.4 million will increase the site’s reactor capacity by around 30%.

The suite, which will feature two 2,000 liter reactors and a Hastelloy filter dryer, is expected to be fully operational by early 2018. “This expansion will facilitate the scheduling of cGMP campaigns for our customers and assist in meeting clinical deadlines. In addition, with the new filter dryer we will be able to run small-scale batches to demonstrate their feasibility for scale-up,” explained Brian Swierenga, vice president of operations and site director for Cambrex High Point.

In a planned second investment at the site, Cambrex will upgrade its analytical chromatography data systems for quality control and analytical R&D to new Empower 3 software, which will be introduced in the second half of 2017. This project, said Cambrex, will enhance the capability, integrity and compliance of the site’s analytical systems in line with increasingly stringent demands from agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, among others.

Cambrex acquired the High Point facility, formerly PharmaCore, last October. It produces complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates to support clinical trials from Phase I to Phase III. The site is also licensed with the US Drug Enforcement Administration to manufacture Schedule II to Schedule V controlled substances.

The New-Jersey based firm also has API development and manufacturing facilities in Charles City, Iowa, USA; Karlskoga, Sweden; Milan, Italy; Tallinn, Estonia; and Wiesbaden, Germany.