2nd May 2012

Penn Pharma Invests in additional Clinical and Commercial Packing Capability

Expanding existing facilities

Following the recent announcement from Penn Pharma on a new £14m high containment facility for production of tablets and capsules containing highly potent actives, the specialist provider of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services has announced additional investment in its packing capacity and capabilities.

The established international pharma services company has installed a number of new packing lines and equipment to support an increased demand for packing and labelling a range of dosage types for both clinical and commercial needs. Penn has also re-modelled its existing facilities adding additional rooms for assembly of clinical trials kits, several new flexible secondary packing rooms and a new label production suite to further strengthen its European operation in Tredegar, South Wales.

Chief Executive, Dr Richard Yarwood, said: “We are pleased to be in a position to continue to invest in the existing operations whilst the new high containment unit is under construction. These new facilities have been designed to meet all current GMP requirements across our broad range of licences.

“This new equipment and expanded facilities will provide the business with the capacity to deliver larger contracts for clinical and commercial supplies including several projects recently won for EU commercial distribution.”

Penn has installed three additional labellers including one with capability to automatically label vials and ampoules. All the new labelling equipment features comprehensive security features including missing overprint presence detection sensors and pharmacode reading systems.

Penn’s clients can now benefit from the addition of three new tablet counters which have high speed infrared sensors for high accuracy counting of tablets and capsules including transparent soft gelatin capsules.

Blister packing capacity is being increased through the installation of a Klockner CP11 blister machine. The unit is capable of running up to 28 cycles per minute and is being modified to provide cold form capability. The new machine is extremely flexible and will provide short lead times for new pack formats.

Richard continued: “2012 is proving to be a year of rapid change and growth at Penn. We are pleased to be able expand our resources through these targeted investments at a time when the demand for our services continues to grow.”

For more information visit www.pennpharm.com