Sterling Pharma Solutions, a Dudley, England-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organization, is investing £6 million ($7.9 million) into a new facility at its UK site to expand its milling, micronization, and solid-form capabilities.

The 40-acre site in Dudley will expand Sterling’s laboratory capabilities to provide a full solid-form offering, including polymorph screening, salt selection,  and particle engineering and crystallization scale-up.

Four new milling areas will house new technologies, including mechanical milling, spiral-jet milling, and small laboratory-scale trial mills. The facility will also provide containment to handle OEB (Occupational Exposure Band) 4-classified molecules and offer ISO 8 cleanroom environments.

The investment forms part of a 15-month strategic development plan totaling almost £12 million ($15.8 million), which will also see the expansion of the company’s GMP kilo laboratories and pilot plant.

Expected to be operational by mid-2018, the milling, micronization, and solid-form facility is expected to create more than 15 jobs over the next 18 months, bringing Sterling’s total workforce to approximately 400 employees.

Source: Sterling Pharma Solutions