Symbiosis Purchases New Production Plant in Scotland
The project is funded by Scottish Enterprise, and aims to boost commercial manufacturing of injectable drug product.
Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services Ltd (Symbiosis), a contract manufacturing organization (CMO), has obtained a new plant in in Stirling, Scotland, UK, doubling the company’s current footprint to 43,500 square feet.1 The CMO notes that the acquisition serves as a boost to manufacturing capacity and bolsters its commercial manufacturing service offering, while accelerating the sterile injectable drug product delivery for use in clinical trials and commercial markets.
This new facility and service extension project is funded by a $5.5 million grant from Scottish Enterprise—a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government—which will be utilized over the course of three years. This effort represents a portion of a grander $34.2 million investment project by Symbiosis, in which it looks to continue company expansion.
More specifically, the company aims to grow its automated sterile manufacturing production line services as an extension of its current commercial fill-finish services that Symbiosis offers its clients by raising it maximum batch size to 15,000 vials. In order to do so, the facility will house two new cleanroom-based good manufacturing practice (GMP) automated production lines.
Symbiosis is now in the qualification phase in readiness for regulatory inspection in November, after acquiring the building and conducting the cleanroom build and automation installation phase of the project. As a result, the CMO anticipates having its new automated GMP sterile manufacturing up and running by the beginning of 2025.
“By investing in this new 20,000 square-foot facility and the cutting-edge pharmaceutical manufacturing automation, Symbiosis has positioned itself to provide additional significant world-class aseptic manufacturing capacity for our existing and future clients globally and represents the next major strategic chapter in the successful and consistently fast-growing trajectory of Symbiosis,” said Colin MacKay, Symbiosis CEO.
“This step-change in operational capacity and the addition of automation, while retaining the organizational and cultural strengths of a fantastic team here at Symbiosis, positions the company for sustained growth and the continued generation of value for clients and shareholders alike.”
Alison Clayton, the company’s strategic projects director, also expressed her excitement toward being able to combat the latest obstacles surrounding drug therapy manufacturing.
“This expansion illustrates our continued investment in solving new and emerging drug therapy manufacturing challenges, working alongside drug developers to commercialize, scale and accelerate the path to delivering safe and effective medicines to patients,” she commented.
“It also represents the latest strategic initiative for Symbiosis following the recent addition of in-house Quality Control (QC) microbiological and analytical testing services in 2023. Together with the expanded manufacturing capacity, these investments will directly support the strategic ambition of Symbiosis to further develop its targeted market presence in North America and the EU.”
Reference
1. Symbiosis announces acquisition of new facility and investment in automated commercial scale GMP sterile manufacturing capability supported by £4.3m grant from Scottish Enterprise. Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services Ltd. September 9, 2024. Accessed September 9, 2024. Press release delivered via email.
