ONYX Scientific is set to increase the size of its UK-based site by over 30pc following the best performance in the company's 15 year history.
The contract research organisation (CRO) and small-scale API manufacturer is investing in an additional site located adjacent to its existing facility in North-East England to help its clients accelerate candidates from discovery to production.
Its additional space will primarily be used to increase its laboratory facilities, GMP suites and allocate space for storage of GMP materials.
As part of the expansion initiative, Onyx Scientific has recruited several more chemists to support clients' pre-clinical, development and early stage API manufacturing projects.
Denise Bowser, commercial director at Onyx Scientific, said: "It's been a challenging few years for CROs across the industry but our team has continued to work hard to always exceed clients' expectations, which has led to a very loyal customer base and regular repeat business.
"Although we have come to the end of a very positive year, we have never been a firm to rest of our laurels. With the support of our parent company Ipca Laboratories, we are very much investing in our physical capacity, equipment and technical resource.
"We remain committed to supporting drug developers across the globe with routine chemistry and overcoming early stage complex chemistry challenges to allow them to progress, scale-up and meet clinical deadline with robust lead candidates."
This latest venture follows investment last year to grow its GMP space following an increase in demand for its small scale API manufacturing services.
Established back in 2000, Onyx Scientific now provides clients with the production of API in up to 50l-100l equipment under current GMP regulations, which fits with its earlier stage custom synthesis, lead optimisation and analytical services.
Denise added: "The decision to expand into an additional building has been driven by increased demand for GMP services as well as continuous flow projects and solid state chemistry, which has fully utilised our resources over the past 12 months."
Alongside its work with large pharma, Onyx Scientific is a preferred partner for many specialty drug development firms and biotech organisations, supporting them with rapid progress from lead optimisation through Phase I-II.
The company's clients benefit from its experience in this early phase of drug development and the knowledge gained in carrying out 100's of projects of this type. From its site in the UK, Onyx Scientific is then able to scale-up, tech transfer and increase efficiency using its parent company's large scale API manufacturing sites in India.