Dr Reddy’s grows UK manufacturing base
pharmafile | October 9, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â CPS, Dow Pharma, Dr Reddy's, MirfieldÂ
India’s Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has said it plans to increase its manufacturing operations in the UK with a round of investment at its facility in Mirfield, Yorkshire.
The Mirfield site houses Dr Reddy’s Custom Pharmaceutical Services (CPS) business, which provides contract development and manufacturing services to drug industry companies and has been in operation for more than 25 years, having formerly been owned by Dow Pharma.
Specifically, Dr Reddy’s plans to expand the plant’s capacity to carry out pegylation, a well-established technique in which a large-molecule drug is attached to a polymer or to improve its solubility, extend its circulating life in the body and in some cases reduce toxicity.
Dr Reddy’s pegylation platform is branded PEGtech and focuses on the use of active methoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG) to conjugate proteins, antibody fragments and peptides.
Meanwhile, the company said it also wants to boost Mirfield’s activities in the development and manufacture of new chemical entities for use in pre-clinical studies through to full-scale commercial development.
“This expansion builds on our commitment to expand operations in UK and provide a superior network of current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) manufacturing to support our global customer base,” said Dr R. Ananthanarayanan, president of Dr Reddy’s pharmaceutical services and active ingredients business.
“The expansion puts Dr Reddy’s at the forefront of activated mPEG manufacturing and will enable manufacture of its PEGtech range at commercial metric tonne scale quantities and beyond in a fully cGMP environment,” he added.
Dr Reddy’s also operates an mPEG plant in Mexico which provides raw material for the pegylation process.
Earlier this year, Dr Reddy’s said its CPS business was working with around ten big pharma companies, another five mid-range firms and more than 30 emerging pharma and biotech customers.
In addition to working with other clients, the Indian firm launched its own pegylated medicine – Peg-grafeel (pegfilgrastim) – to reduce the duration of neutropenia and the incidence of febrile neutropenia in patients treated with cancer chemotherapy. Peg-grafeel was introduced in India in 2010.
Meanwhile, along with pegylation, the unit specialises in other niche technologies such as complex chiral molecules, high-potency APIs, peptides, prostaglandins and carbohydrates.
“We have invested in multiple technology areas and the expansion will add significant value in the areas of mPEGs and cGMP API manufacturing,” said the company, although the value of the investment has not been disclosed.
Phil Taylor
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