Upperton Pharma Solutions Completes £7m Sterile Manufacturing Facility in Nottingham

Upperton Pharma Solutions, a leading UK contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has announced the completion of its new £7 million sterile manufacturing facility in Nottingham, UK. This expansion marks a significant milestone for the company and reinforces its position in the pharmaceutical industry.

Facility Specifications and Capabilities

The purpose-built 7,000 sq. ft facility has been designed in compliance with the revised EU GMP Annex-1 regulations, focusing on the manufacturing of aseptic and terminally sterilised small volume liquids and powders for parenteral, nasal, and pulmonary delivery. The new site complements Upperton's existing 50,000 sq. ft Trent Gateway facility, enhancing the company's overall capabilities.

Key features of the new facility include:

• Two cleanrooms equipped with advanced VHP isolation technology
• GMP manufacturing capabilities for sterile drug products
• Batch sizes of up to 2,000 vials, pre-filled syringes, and pre-filled cartridges for liquid formulations and pre-sterilized powders
• Support for formulation development, clinical manufacture, and analytical testing

Strategic Expansion and Industry Impact

Nikki Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of Upperton Pharma Solutions, emphasized the strategic importance of this expansion, stating, "We are delighted to complete the build of our sterile facility. The combined experience of our leadership team in sterile facility builds and subsequent operations ensures that we are ideally placed as a CDMO partner of choice for small to mid-sized biotech and pharma looking to get into the clinic quickly with fast access to sterile manufacturing services."

This investment in sterile drug product manufacturing significantly enhances Upperton's existing service offering, which already includes formulation development across various dosage forms, clinical trial supply, and late-stage manufacturing for non-sterile dosage forms for both small molecules and biologics.

Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance

Jon Austwick, Director of Quality & Compliance at Upperton, highlighted the company's commitment to quality and regulatory standards: "This expansion illustrates our continued investment in our capabilities to support drug developers to scale and accelerate the path to delivering safe and effective medicines to patients. The facility has been built with the highest level of quality and is a testament to our internal teams and build vendor who have worked tirelessly over the past 12 months to bring our vision to life."

As the commissioning of the facility continues, along with the installation and validation of new equipment, Upperton plans to leverage its existing expertise in research & development and analytical teams to support pre-formulation and stability studies for early proof-of-concept products for parenteral, nasal, and pulmonary delivery.