Almac opens a £20-million cold chain facility in Northern Ireland
Will also expands capacity in the EU market
Almac Group, which handles contract manufacturing from clinical to commercial scale, has opened a 95,000-sq. ft. facility in Craigavon, its Northern Ireland headquarters. The facility represents the equivalent of 3,000-pallet capacity. Components include -15°C to -25°C storage, additional 2°C - 8°C secondary production rooms, 3PL processing areas and a custom designed clinical labelling suite.
“This new facility at our global headquarters expands our cold storage capacity by 300% and our frozen storage capabilities by over 50%, enabling us to better serve our clients, and ultimately patients, worldwide,” commented Alan Armstrong, Almac CEO. Orphan drug development, plus the desire to provide clinical-to-commercial scale for biologic and biosimilar production, were factors in the facility design.
Several weeks prior, the company also announced a £30-million investment in Dundalk, Ireland, covering a new QC laboratory, packaging facility for commercial drug products and a dedicated 79,000-sq. ft. EU Distribution Centre for clinical trial supply. (Regardless of how the UK—which includes Northern Ireland—resolves Brexit trade issues, the Republic of Ireland will remain in the EU.) The expansion is scheduled to be operationally ready by January 2019.
