Global contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), Sterling Pharma Solutions, has officially opened its new multi-million-pound Material Science Centre (MSC), after announcing the investment last year.

The three-floor MSC comprises six ISO Class 8 cleanrooms, which house four milling and micronisation suites. The new facility, which is the latest step in the company’s continued growth plans, also contains warehousing and workshop facilities dedicated to the milling operations, as well as a new fully equipped solid state laboratory and an analytical services laboratory and write up area.

Kevin Cook, Chief Executive Officer at Sterling, said: “The centre will provide a range of specialist solid state chemistry and milling services to complement the services we already provide to our customer base.

“This investment is in direct response to customer requirements to bring our solid form services, which have previously been outsourced to third parties, in-house. The centre will allow us to manage more of the product processing and as a result improve efficiencies; mitigating risk and allowing us to provide our customers with more cost-effective solutions. It will also help to reduce overall manufacturing time as we continue to develop more efficient processes.”

Sterling Pharma Solutions’ solid form development team will be housed within the facility and will work to optimise existing processes across four connected areas of solid form investigation including, salt/cocrystal screening, polymorph screening, pre-formulation evaluation and crystallisation development.

As a result of the ongoing pandemic and visitor restrictions, Sterling will be launching the centre virtually. This will include a webinar hosted by Sterling’s experts to introduce the facility, team and services.

A virtual tour of the facility will also be released next month to allow external stakeholders to take a closer look at the new facility, remotely and safely.

About Sterling Pharma Solutions

Sterling Pharma Solutions, which has sites in the UK and the US, is a well-established developer and manufacturer of pharmaceutical APIs. Specialising in hazardous chemistry and handling controlled substances, the company is dedicated to continuously developing innovative solutions to customer challenges, such as handling potent molecules and increasing operational effectiveness.

The US facility, located close to Research Triangle Park, supports the development and manufacturing requirements for pre-clinical and early phase clinical supply for volumes from millilitres up to 100 litre batches. The team has expertise in medicinal chemistry services, including lead optimisation and parallel synthesis, cGMP analytical services to support testing and release, process development and small-scale API manufacturing.