In a first phase of the expansion at Grangemouth, Piramal will add two ADC manufacturing suites to the existing three. Operations at the new facility, which is located on a five-acre brownfield plot close to the company’s existing site, are scheduled to begin by the third quarter of 2023.

The building is also being designed for further expansion, with planned future phases to include a new sterile fill-and-finish suite dedicated to ADCs and two more large-scale manufacturing suites capable of handling bigger batch sizes.

A new customer experience center is also being built for clients who visit the site during development and/or manufacturing activities. Ground preparing and piling works are underway and an official groundbreaking ceremony took place on Feb. 7.

The Grangemouth expansion will also be fully supported by analytical laboratories for quality control, cell-based assay, enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and GMP, along with warehousing and administrative offices. It is expected to create between 40 and 50 new jobs, bringing the total number of employees at the Scottish site to more than 250.

“This new development will more than double our ADC production capacity, strengthening our ability to service customers throughout the entire drug lifecycle,” said CEO Peter DeYoung.

The project at Grangemouth will cost £45 million, which includes a grant of £2.4 million from Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency. “With Scottish Enterprise support, the company’s Grangemouth site expansion proposals will deliver more R&D and production capacity for the development, scale up and commercial manufacture of drugs in the global fight against cancer,” said Adrian Gillespie, Scottish Enterprise CEO.

In Morpeth, Piramal is spending another £10 million to replace obsolete equipment, infrastructure and utility systems with new, energy-efficient alternatives. Piramal said the investment will meet increased demand from global API customers, while also improving its carbon footprint.

More than 400 people are employed at Morpeth, with roughly 160 working directly in API operations. Piramal is investing £8 million directly, while the UK government is contributing £2 million.

Last month, the CDMO announced plans to enhance its capabilities in India and the US. A multi-million-dollar sum is being invested to expand in-vitro biology capabilities at its drug discovery services site in Ahmedabad. The expansion will go on stream in the third quarter of 2022.

At the Sellersville, Pennsylvania drug product facility, Piramal has added development/commercial-scale roller compaction technology, enhancing the site’s dry granulation and scale-up capabilities for oral dosage formulations.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist