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Almac Group Expands Commercial Capabilities

Almac Group is pleased to announce that it has expanded its Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) / US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved UK commercial packaging facility with the acquisition of a stick sachet packaging line from Merz.

The acquisition comes in response to growing demand for the specialist packaging solutions for paediatric drug products, specifically powders, minitabs or granules into stickpack sachets. This investment was made in partnership with a long-term commercial US client who, having worked with Almac since 2010, now sought an integrated commercial manufacturing and packaging solution for the EU supply of their new paediatric formulation drug product.

In line with EU Paediatric Regulations (EC1901/2006 and EC1902/2006), the US client implemented its paediatric investigation plan (PIP) and developed and launched an age-appropriate formulation to meet infant patient needs; with Almac manufacturing the paediatric granules, primary packing into stickpack sachets and then into wallet cards.

To facilitate the packaging of paediatric dosage forms, investment was made in Merz Stickpack technology. The SBL-50 stickpack technology is a fully automated forming, filling and sealing machine capable of filling 80 stickpacks / minute. This flexible technology not only meets the stickpack presentation needs of Almac’s current clients but has capacity to process new paediatric drug products (powders, granules and minitabs) that require this specialist packaging.

Vice-president of commercial operations at Almac David Downey commented: “Almac continues to expand our commercial packaging capabilities and the addition of this stickpack solution strengthens Almac’s position in providing flexible services to meet various market needs from small volume orphan drug products to large-scale marketed products in both adult and paediatric forms.”

General manager at Merz Holger Merz said: “The innovative and committed team at Almac set up a compact, highly flexible packaging solution for micro tablets and powders in stickpacks to service the growing demand for this user-friendly dosage form. Advanced primary packaging forms like stickpacks offer high flexibility for diversification of pharmaceutical products.”

Almac’s Commercial Services

With more than 40 years’ experience and commercial facilities in the UK and US, Almac’s global reach and local expertise provide flexible, quality led commercial solutions.

Providing commercial services for new product launches or transferring existing commercial products, we specialise in the scalable manufacture and packaging of solid oral dosage forms from niche orphan drugs to high volume marketed products. Complimented by tailored packaging solutions for sterile, sachet and blister presentations we have supported the launch of multiple orphan drug products over the last 3 years. Value-added solutions in artwork/pack design, qualified person (QP) release and third-party logistics provides end-to-end commercial solutions for our client partners.