Quay Expands in New Facility, Passes MHRA

Quay Pharma has begun investing and expanding in its recently opened Deeside, North Wales facility. The new site has also undergone a successful re-inspection by the MHRA, confirming Quay’s GMP compliance.

The site’s new equipment includes a state-of-the-art ion chromatography system, which the company added to support two new projects requiring specialist analytical capability. The first of the projects concerned is for a French biopharma that is developing products for severe neurological disorders. The system will be used with pulsed amperometry electrochemical detection to monitor extremely low levels of sugars in a combination drug product. The second project, for a new UK pharma, involves measurement of a cationic drug and its degradation products by conductivity detection.

Quay’s formulation development department, which specializes in the development of solid dosages, creams, liquids and gels, has been expanded to include a new pilot facility alongside the laboratory. The pilot lab will offer the capability for early phase work in standard techniques such as tableting, coating and capsule filling, as well as more complex processes such as extrusion spheronization and semi-solid and liquid filling and banding of capsules. It will assist in scale up, as well as providing proof of concept studies and samples for pharmacokinetic (PK) studies.

In addition to these investments, Quay is also planning to introduce new GMP manufacturing suites, with work on these expected to commence 3Q11. Quay Pharma’s chief executive officer, Mike Rubinstein, remarked, “The move to the new premises has effectively quadrupled the available space for these important departments and will allow us to provide a greatly enhanced range of services to both existing and new customers.”