Sterling Pharma Solutions launches Material Science Centre

Contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), Sterling Pharma Solutions, has opened its new multi-million-pound Material Science Centre (MSC) as part of its continued growth plans.

The new facility contains six ISO Class 8 cleanrooms, which house four milling and micronisation suites. The new facility also contains warehousing and workshop facilities dedicated to the milling operations, as well as a new fully equipped solid state laboratory and an analytical services laboratory and write up area.

Kevin Cook, chief executive officer at Sterling, said: “The centre will provide a range of specialist solid state chemistry and milling services to complement the services we already provide to our customer base.

“This investment is in direct response to customer requirements to bring our solid form services, which have previously been outsourced to third parties, in-house. The centre will allow us to manage more of the product processing and as a result improve efficiencies; mitigating risk and allowing us to provide our customers with more cost-effective solutions. It will also help to reduce overall manufacturing time as we continue to develop more efficient processes.”

The facility will house Sterling Pharma Solutions’ solid form development team and will work to optimise existing processes across four connected areas of solid form investigation including, salt/cocrystal screening, polymorph screening, pre-formulation evaluation and crystallisation development.

Due to Covid-19 the centre is being launched virtually, with a webinar hosted by Sterling’s experts to introduce the facility, team and services.

A virtual tour of the facility will also be released next month to allow external stakeholders to take a closer look at the new facility, remotely and safely.