Lucideon expands pharma testing facilities
pharmafile | September 29, 2014 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | bioburden, ceram, freeman, labs, lucideon, manufacturing, stoke
Materials development firm Lucideon has opened new pharmaceutical quality control testing laboratories at its UK headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent.
The £1.5 million facilities feature both chemistry labs for a range of testing services – including quality control, method development, raw material analysis, and stability storage – as well as microbiology labs for the testing of sterility, endotoxin and bioburden testing.
The company says it hopes the new facilities will provide “a comprehensive service for the pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer healthcare industries”.
Dr Richard White, head of testing at Lucideon, calls the opening a ‘significant step’ for the business in expanding its healthcare and pharmaceutical activity.
Formally known as Ceram, Lucideon provides materials for a wide range of clients, but White says: “Healthcare is now one of our biggest sectors, due to the work we do with many blue-chip companies worldwide.”
Parmiji Bilan who is a leader of the pharmaceutical unit there, adds that a “team of experienced scientists with cross-industry knowledge and expertise” will head up the new laboratories.
Lucideon’s new investment in its medical arm comes in the midst of a continued surge for the UK pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. The 2013 Annual Business Inquiry report from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of pharma manufacturing enterprises in the UK, increased from 444 to 509 between 2010 and 2012.
The BIA and the ABPI, which already considers the UK’s manufacturing sector to be ‘world class’, also recently established a Medicines Manufacturing Industry partnership to further enhance it in the future, backed by several pharma companies.
The government too is aware of the sector’s potential. Life sciences minister George Freeman MP has voiced his approval of recent growth efforts, saying that hopes the UK remains “at the forefront of this highly competitive sector,” building on its ‘impressive work’ in areas like innovation mapping and skills investment.
George Underwood
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