Drugs firm to begin production

UK-based pharmaceuticals manufacturing company Aesica has announced it will commence production at its high-capacity drug-manufacturing facility at Queenborough, Kent.

With the upgrade of its latest facility, Aesica will be able to further the commercial production of a solid dose medication designed to help the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

“This facility will allow us to manufacture a high quality product used to treat one of the world’s most prevalent diseases

Aesica CEO Robert Hardy

According to the company, around 366 million people had diabetes in 2011 and by 2030, estimates predict this figure will rise to 552 million globally.

Having invested roughly £27 million in the site, Aesica has said production capacity will peak in excess of 1 billion tablets per year.

Aesica described the facility as an advanced unit which contains highly technical and specialist equipment including state-of-the-art spray granulators, coaters, tablet presses, powder handling systems and large capacity blenders.

To control the quality of the medication produced, Aesica has incorporated both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) equipment into the site.

An Aesica spokesman also informed Process Engineering that the company intends to introduce at-line Raman spectroscopy for container identification.

“This state-of-the-art facility will allow us to manufacture a high quality product used to treat one of the world’s most prevalent diseases and has the capability to double its capacity in the future,” said Aesica chief executive officer Robert Hardy.

Further expansion is being considered for the site which will see production more than double its current capacity to produce over 2.5 billion tablets a year.

Aesica boss Robert Hardy spoke to Process Engineering in its January issue. To read the full interview, please follow this link.