Saltigo establishes US production and development services for pharmacompanies
LANXESS Corporation has established a new site in Redmond, Washington, to serve the growing pharmaceutical business line of its affiliate, Saltigo GmbH (a subsidiary of LANXESS Deutschland GmbH).
LANXESS Corporation has established a new site in Redmond, Washington, to serve the growing pharmaceutical business line of its affiliate, Saltigo GmbH (a subsidiary of LANXESS Deutschland GmbH).
The site, which includes offices, laboratories and technical facilities formerly used by ICOS Corp., a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co., provides Saltigo with US-based pharmaceutical operations that will allow rapid response to customers.
Saltigo intends to use the facilities of the kilo lab and pilot plant, both of which meet CGMP standards, to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for early clinical testing up to and including Phase IIa. Timothy Fitzpatrick, former Associate Director of ICOS, has been designated manager of the Redmond site, where up to 25 people are to be employed. Sales support will be provided by LANXESS Corporation.
"The US is a key centre for pharmaceutical innovation, and we"re excited about the opportunities this new facility will provide," said Wolfgang Schmitz, managing director of Saltigo. The west coast of the US is home to many small pharmaceutical companies that can be considered innovation drivers for the entire industry. In the medium term, Saltigo expects to establish many new business relationships and thus achieve a corresponding increase in sales.
In line with this strategy, the focus in Redmond will be on the early lifecycle phases of APIs, in which substances are initially needed on laboratory and pilot scales. "In this business, it is less a case of developing stable processes for the production of commercial quantities than of achieving flexibility and speed in delivering the substances to ensure the best possible support for API development," said Dr Wilhelm Stahl, head of Saltigo's pharma business line.
For the production of larger volumes, Saltigo has a large portfolio of chemistries and technologies, plus wide-ranging expertise in synthesis optimisation and process development, at its integrated production site in Leverkusen, Germany. These options thus effectively complement the services from Redmond for the early lifecycle phases of the APIs.
"Like the expansion of our CGMP production capacity in Leverkusen, which is now almost complete, in Redmond we have been able to make use of existing facilities and their relevant infrastructure," Stahl explained.
In addition, LANXESS intends to make investments to expand the capabilities of the new site for Saltigo's activities. Measures will include further improving the infrastructure, strengthening the facilities in the fields of low-temperature synthesis and CGMP kilo production, and optimising quality management.
