Piramal Pharma Solutions Expands & Upgrades UK Facilities

Piramal Pharma Solutions is expanding its Antibody -Drug Conjugate ( ADC ) capabilities at its Grangemouth facility in Scotland and is investing in new Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient ( API ) infrastructure at its Morpeth facility in England. The expansions and upgrades represent a total investment of approximately £55 million in the company’s UK-based drug development and manufacturing capabilities as well as new employment opportunities for technical and operational staff.

Grangemouth Site ADC Expansion

In the first phase of the Grangemouth site expansion, two new ADC manufacturing suites, operational by 3Q23, will be added to the existing three. The building was designed to accommodate further expansion, with planned future phases that include a new sterile fill/finish suite dedicated to ADCs and two additional large-scale manufacturing suites capable of handling increased batch sizes. A new customer experience center is also being constructed for clients who are visiting the site during development and/or manufacturing activities. 

Piramal Pharma Solutions has hundreds of payloads developed and more than a thousand ADC batches manufactured. When complete, the expansion will significantly increase ADC capacity at the Grangemouth site. The new facility will be fully supported by analytical laboratories (Quality Control, Cell-based Assay and Enzyme -Linked Immune Sorbent Assay [ELISA], Good Manufacturing Practice [ GMP ]), warehousing, and administrative offices.   

The Grangemouth facility ADC capabilities inlcude: fit-for-purpose rapid development for early clinical materials and scalable late phase development to support pivotal trials and commercial launch. By combining these skills with offerings from its thirteen global facilities, including fill/finish, payloads, and peptides, the company can provide integrated ADC services to customers looking for fast, simplified solutions.

The Grangemouth expansion is expected to create approximately 40-50 new jobs, bringing the total number of employees at the site to more than 250. 

Morpeth Site API Investment

The investment in API capabilities at the Morpeth site includes new equipment, infrastructure, and utility systems intended to meet increased market demand from global API customers while also improving PPS’ carbon footprint by replacing obsolete equipment with new, energy-efficient alternatives. More than 400 people are employed at Morpeth, with ~160 directly in API Operations. PPS is investing £8 million directly, while the UK government is contributing £2 million to the project.