Alnwick drugs firm set to create 80 new jobs through £6.3m investment

The drug development company has announced a £6.3m investment in its Alnwick manufacturing facility.

Quotient acquired the Arcinova facility in February to expand its service portfolio to include drug substance, drug product and clinical testing capabilities all under one organisation.

The acquisition enables Quotient to support customers with an “end to end” offering from candidate selection through commercial product launch.

It is planned to transform an old animal testing facility into a drug substance manufacturing lab.

The investment will involve incorporating additional equipment and technologies — significantly expanding the number of new molecules developed each year.

Additional equipment, featuring the latest advances in digital control and data capture, will ensure robust transfer from laboratory to multi-kilo scale production.

Plus, processing equipment with new developments in modular continuous technology will maximise responsiveness and agility for manufacturing processes.

These updates, combined with a five-fold increase in scale, will increase Quotient’s capacity by over 10 times for developing complex medicines.

“Following our integration into Quotient Sciences earlier in the year, it is tremendously exciting to see the Alnwick facility continue to expand capabilities as we move into larger scale and commercial manufacturing,” said Quotient Sciences SVP candidate development services Roger Kilburn.

“Science and agility are at the core of Quotient Sciences, and our team strives to innovate and develop smarter approaches to process R&D for our customers and drive the adoption of continuous processing technologies.”

The Alnwick facility employs 170 people across a range of scientific disciplines and this investment will create a variety of new jobs.

Quotient continues to grow and was recently presented an award for ‘Most Inspirational North East (UK) Science Employer’ from STEM Learning, as part of the STEM Ambassadors program.

Quotient has sites in Miami, Philadelphia, Edinburgh, Reading and Nottingham.

In its Arcinova guise, the company was heavily involved in promoting clean and efficient chemistry and biotechnology processes to minimise the environmental impact of drug development.

It spearheaded the use of new intensive manufacturing technology processes to support the rapid development of pioneering drugs for the treatment of life-threatening illnesses.

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