Piramal expands contract services and research
By Nick Taylor
08-Oct-2008 - India-based Piramal Healthcare has extended the range of early phase drug product development and manufacturing on offer at its Morpeth, UK facility.
Piramal's Morpeth facility was acquired from Pfizer in 2006, with the 13,000 sq ft facility being re-equipped with primary and secondary packaging capabilities. The company could double packaging capacity in the future.
Morpeth is also an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) formulation and small-scale manufacturing facility, equipping it to provide a range of clinical trial supplies (CTS) services.
Ian Morgan, head of the Clinical Trials Services initiative, said: “Morpeth is a flagship site, where we can build further on its deep experience in customer service. Alongside drug product development and clinical trials manufacture, Morpeth offers customers connected capabilities with benefits in time, cost and reduced customer intervention.”
The new CTS offerings from Piramal include label design and printing, comparator drug procurement, product blinding, global storage and distribution and drug destruction.
Piramal’s in-house developed tracking system, TrakPack, is being used to barcode patient kits through labelling, assembly and distribution. Using this system allows customers to track the project’s progress in real time, providing reassurance to the client.
The new services have been launched as part of a series of business developments undertaken since the company re-branded in March.
Expansion into contract research
Included in the realignment of Piramal is the acquisition of Tangent Data, a Romanian contract research organisation (CRO) specialising in the central nervous system (CNS).
Acquiring Tangent gives Piramal a presence in the growth sectors of Eastern Europe and CNS research. However, the company is planning on expanding further over the next three years, setting up operations in Western and Eastern Europe, South Asia and North America.
This geographic expansion will also see the company broaden its research scope to cover dermatology, oncology and metabolic diseases.
Dr R Ananthanarayanan, president and head of the Pharma Solutions business, said: “This is Piramal Healthcares first CRO acquisition but also the second in a series of steps to increase our presence across the clinical trials space and the breadth of out customer offering.
“It connects upstream of our clinical trials manufacturing capabilities and forms the first link in our now complete supply chain, offering customers more flexibility and value through reduced time-to-clinic.”
