Almac Group Expands Commercial Capabilities to Meet Industry Demand for Paediatric Formulations

Craigavon, N.I., UK, – Date 14 November 2016 – Almac Group, the global contract development and manufacturing organisation, is pleased to announce that it has expanded its MHRA/FDA approved UK commercial packaging facility with the acquisition of a stick sachet packaging line from Merz.

The acquisition comes in response to growing demand for the specialist packaging solutions for paediatric drug products, specifically powders, minitabs or granules into stickpack sachets.  This investment was made in partnership with a long-term commercial US client who having worked with Almac since 2010, now sought an integrated commercial manufacturing and packaging solution for the EU supply of their new paediatric formulation drug product.

In line with EU Paediatric Regulations (EC1901/2006 and EC1902/2006), the US client implemented its Paediatric Investigation Plan (PIP) and developed and launched an age appropriate formulation to meet infant patient needs; with Almac manufacturing the paediatric granules, primary packing into stickpack sachets and then  into wallet cards.

To facilitate the packaging of paediatric dosage forms, investment was made in Merz Stickpack technology.  The SBL-50 stickpack technology is a fully automated forming, filling and sealing machine capable of filling 80 stickpacks / minute.  This flexible technology not only meets the stickpack presentation needs of Almac’s current clients but has capacity to process new paediatric drug products (powders, granules and minitabs) that require this specialist packaging.

David Downey, VP Commercial Operations at Almac commented “Almac continue to expand our commercial packaging capabilities and the addition of this stickpack solution strengthens Almac’s position in providing flexible services to meet various market needs from small volume orphan drug products to large scale marketed products in both adult and paediatric forms.”

Holger Merz, General Manager at Merz said: “The innovative and committed team at Almac set up a compact, highly flexible packaging solution for micro tablets and powders in stickpacks to service the growing demand for this user-friendly dosage form. Advanced primary packaging forms like stickpacks offer highest flexibility for diversification of pharmaceutical products.”

About Almac’s Commercial Services

With over 40 years’ experience and commercial facilities in the UK and US, our global reach and local expertise provides flexible, quality led commercial solutions.

Providing commercial services for new product launches or transferring existing commercial products, we specialise in the scalable manufacture and packaging of solid oral dosage forms from niche orphan drugs to high volume marketed products. Complimented by tailored packaging solutions for sterile, sachet and blister presentations we have supported the launch of multiple orphan drug products over the last 3 years. Value added solutions in artwork/pack design, QP release and 3rd Party Logistics provides end-to-end commercial solutions for our client partners.

About Almac Group

‘Partnering to Advance Human Health’

The Almac Group is an established contract development and manufacturing organisation that provides an extensive range of integrated services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally. The services range from R&D, biomarker discovery development and commercialisation, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply, IXRS® technology (IVRS/IWRS) through to commercial-scale manufacture.

The international company is a privately owned organisation that has organically grown over 40 years and now employs in excess of 4,500 highly skilled personnel. Almac is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland with operations in the UK, Ireland, across the US (Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California) and in Asia (Singapore and Tokyo).

For more information visit almacgroup.com or e-mail [email protected].

About Merz

For more than 40 years, the company MERZ Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH has been developing and manufacturing stickpack-machines, 3-and 4-side sealing bag machines, innovative dosing technology as well as tailored packaging equipment. MERZ packaging machines are in use in more than 40 countries all over the world!

A significant advantage for our customers is the supply of complete “turn-key” lines with 1 to 5 lanes, including end of the line packaging into folded cartons or into cardboard boxes.

The family owned company is the place for personal, customized packaging solutions and special machineries.

For more information, please visit www.merz-system.de or e-mail to [email protected]