Adrian Gillespie, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, joins senior Piramal management team and site leadership to mark the occasion. The commissioning of the facility represents the culmination of a £45m investment to address rapidly growing demand for ADC manufacturing, supported by a £2.4m Scottish Enterprise grant.
Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and part of Piramal Pharma Ltd. (PPL) (NSE: PPLPHARMA | BSE: 543635), today celebrated the opening of its expanded antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing facility in Grangemouth, Scotland, UK.
Among the dignitaries participating in the ceremony and ribbon cutting to formally commission the facility was Adrian Gillespie, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise. Representing Piramal were Nandini Piramal, Chairperson, Piramal Pharma Limited; Peter DeYoung, CEO, Piramal Pharma Solutions; Herve Berdou, COO, Piramal Pharma Solutions; Chris Leahy, SVP Finance, Piramal Pharma Solutions; and Francois Houbart, Managing Director and Grangemouth Site Head, Piramal Pharma Solutions.
Piramal Pharma Solutions is a global leader in ADC development and manufacturing, with hundreds of payloads developed and more than a thousand ADC batches manufactured. This expansion further enhances the site’s capacity by approximately seventy to eighty percent, enabling scale-up of commercial ADC manufacturing batches. The capacity expansion, which has been completed for commercialization within this fiscal year, features two new ADC manufacturing suites specifically designed to complement the existing three. The £45 million investment was financed by a combination of Scottish Enterprise government grant, bank loan, customer co-investment, and internal accruals.
The primary beneficiaries of the expansion are Piramal’s customer base and the patients they serve, who are now further supported by the site’s enhanced ability to deliver the full life cycle of ADC development and manufacturing. This includes ADCelerateTM, the company’s branded solution for the rapid early-stage development of ADC drugs. This integrated offering combines the development of the monoclonal antibody (mAb), linker/payload, conjugation, and sterile fill/finish into a single integrated program across four global Piramal sites, including Grangemouth. The approach simplifies development and manufacturing, speeding the process by which new compounds can get to the patients who need them. Programs such as ADCelerate, coupled with the highly skilled workforce in Grangemouth, exemplify how Piramal brings the best science to its customers and their patients.
The site expansion also includes a dedicated customer experience center for clients who are visiting the site during development and/or manufacturing activities, along with new Quality Control laboratories, warehousing, office space, and supporting utilities. The building, which utilized modular construction technology to expedite its completion, has been designed to accommodate further expansion. Potential future enhancements may include a new sterile fill/finish suite dedicated to ADCs and two additional large-scale manufacturing suites capable of handling increased batch sizes.
Ceremonial Ribbon Cutting, Piramal Pharma Solutions Grangemouth, Scotland Site Expansion
Peter DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Pharma Solutions, stated, “The global ADC market is growing strongly and so is the pipeline at Grangemouth, necessitating additional capacity to meet customer demand. This expansion allows us to cater to further growth and take on future projects. We see the market gravitating towards large and commercial scale manufacturing, which the new facility is well equipped to address. We’ve now doubled our ADC production capacity, strengthening our ability to service customers throughout the entire drug lifecycle.”
Adrian Gillespie, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, commented, “Today’s opening marks the completion of Piramal’s welcome £45 million investment into Scotland’s life sciences sector, creating and safeguarding high-quality jobs. We’re pleased that the company chose Scotland as the ideal location for its pioneering work on ADCs – a new and growing area of medical innovation. We look forward to continuing and deepening our relationship with Piramal.”
Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray said, “This £45 million investment in pharmaceutical innovation helps build on Scotland’s strengths in health and life sciences, creating new jobs and opportunities as part of a fair and growing wellbeing economy. It also augments Grangemouth’s heritage as a critical manufacturing hub for Scotland.”
Secretary Gray added, “Scotland’s National Innovation Strategy sets out our vision for becoming one of the most innovative small nations in the world over the next decade, working with partners to grow world leading excellence in our priority areas.”
