Almac Sciences, a member of the Almac Group, has officially opened a new custom-built GMP warehouse and dispatch hub at its global headquarters in Craigavon, UK.

The new 19,500 sq.-ft. facility consolidates the existing warehouses and supply chain offices and will provide support to all active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing and laboratory activities, from development to commercialization.

The warehouse has capacity to store 500 pallets of solvent, 800 pallets of 15-25°C materials as well as walk-in fridge and freezer, all of which are connected to an Environmental Monitoring System (EMS). The facility also houses downflow booths for sampling incoming materials and is the centralized location for all staff in the supply chain department. An extensive expansion area also remains for additional office space on the first floor.

This new building forms part of the multi-million-pound manufacturing investment program to support client requirements. The first stage of Almac’s GMP facility expansion was announced in December 2022 with an extension to its current GMP manufacturing facility. The next stage will create manufacturing centers of excellence to support small molecule API production at up to 200-300kg scale, as well as increased capacity for peptide API production.

“The new warehouse has been designed to ensure there is sufficient capacity to support our manufacturing expansions in line with the GMP storage of raw materials and manufactured API,” said Michael Rainey, head of supply chain, Almac Sciences. “The consolidation of the warehouse areas and supply chain offices provides a new central location for the warehousing, purchasing, imports and dispatch teams to provide support to the business’ ongoing growth plans.”

Dan Bayston, vice president, small molecule API, said, “Almac Sciences is undergoing a period of rapid growth and expansion within its manufacturing areas and our new warehousing and dispatch facility is critical to support the increased demand from our clients. This new facility at our global headquarters expands storage capacity by approximately 300% which aligns with our future growth plans within manufacturing, allowing us to better serve our clients, and ultimately patients, worldwide, thus enabling us to enhance human health.”