Alnwick drugs firm Quotient Sciences set to officially open new £6 million manufacturing facility

The drug development and manufacturing accelerator will stage the event on Friday, December 9 from 2pm to 4pm.

The event will be hosted by the CEO of SCI (Society of Chemical Industry) Sharon Todd, and Quotient Sciences’ SVP and Head of Candidate Development, Paul Ryan, at the Taylor Drive facility and will include tours of the newly built facility.

Sharon Todd, CEO of SCI said: “This new drug substance manufacturing facility showcases the North East region as one of the UK’s key clusters for innovation.

"I am honoured to be there to support the opening of this new facility - especially with the local connections I have to this area.

"Quotient Sciences is one of SCI’s corporate partners and this launch resonates with SCI’s core charitable purpose of helping our community to accelerate science out of the laboratory – for the benefit of society.

“Quotient Sciences is accelerating science out of the lab to bring new drugs to market more quickly, to improve global health.

“The Alnwick facility is also a shining example of the latest technologies, industry growth and job creation – the multi-million investment will bring new highly skilled roles. I am certain this manufacturing site will not only benefit the region and the UK long-term but also the world.”

Quotient Sciences completed the £6 million state-of-the-art building expansion in October, with the overall goal to deliver comprehensive integrated support for customers bridging from candidate selection to early clinical development and beyond.

The newly expanded space features multipurpose capacity of up to 15 GMP reactor streams with reactor volumes ranging from 5 litres up to 150 litres and deployment of both batch or continuous flow chemistry technologies.

SVP and Head of Candidate Development at Quotient Sciences, Paul Ryan said: “Expanding our drug substance capabilities was a necessary step in allowing us to better support our customers’ programs as they progress through the development pathway.

"Our Alnwick facility was perfectly placed for expansion with available space and a wealth of local talent.

“This new facility delivers agile capacity to manufacture multi-kilogram quantities of new, novel drugs for medical research, which will allow us to get medicines to patients faster.

“Plus, this celebratory occasion also marks an important milestone for our Alnwick pharmaceutical development site, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022.

"We have a long and successful history in Alnwick, and we fully intend that to carry on with our continued investment and support in the town.”

The completion of this facility will create an additional 80-100 new scientific and technical jobs at the Alnwick site, which currently employs 200 people across a range of scientific disciplines, including process chemistry, solid-state characterisation, radiosynthesis, bioanalysis, and formulation development.

The company will continue to expand its capabilities, capacity, and headcount at the site to meet the growing demand for outsourced drug substance, product development and manufacturing services.

In 2021, the site was presented an award for “Most Inspirational North East (UK) Science Employer” from STEM Learning as part of the STEM Ambassadors programme.