Almac Group Grows Global HQ, Invests in Production Facilities
Northern Ireland hub undergoes $85 million expansion.
The Almac Group, a contract development and manufacturing organization, has invested $85 million in a program to build new extensive manufacturing, production, and diagnostic laboratory facilities at its global headquarters in Craigavon, Northern Ireland.
The expansion, which is part of the global investment program announced in 2022, is expected to grow operations for two of the group’s business units, Almac Pharma Services and Almac Diagnostic Services.
Almac Pharma Services supports the development and commercialization of new treatment options for a wide range of therapy areas including oncology and immunology. Almac Diagnostic Services offers biomarker discovery, development, and commercialization solutions to biopharma partners globally.
The first of these two major projects is a $69 million, 100,000 square-foot state-of-the-art multi-product good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility for Almac Pharma Services, which will be operational from Q3 2024. This Center of Excellence increases Almac Pharma Services’ manufacturing capacity by supporting solid oral dose products, complementing Almac’s existing capabilities in this area. It includes an extension to current scales of production for products involving potent and highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). for clients to install bespoke technology specific to their individual and emerging pipeline needs.
The second project is a 40,000 square-foot, diagnostic development and manufacturing center for Almac Diagnostic Services ,which is due for completion by Q1 2024. This facility will enable expansion of its biomarker discovery and assay development offerings and manufacturing and distribution of Companion Diagnostic (CDx) kits on a commercial scale to support growing client demand.
“ … This significant investment demonstrates our commitment to offering enhanced drug development and manufacturing solutions, and further establishes Almac Pharma Services as a long-term partner for commercial supply of novel therapies,” comments John McQuaid, president and managing director, Almac Pharma Services. “The new facility adds more capacity and additional capabilities including larger scale potent handling.”
