Metrics, Inc. has opened a new larger scale manufacturing facility. As part of its expansion, the company has brought online two packaging lines, two granulating rooms and three compressing rooms, including a double-sided, 45-station tablet press. This allows the company to handle batch sizes as large as 500 kilograms with a blending capacity of 46 cubic feet and a total capacity of 1 billion tablets per year.
   
The new manufacturing space is a result of the company’s recently completed $18-million, 47,000-sq.-ft. expansion that doubled the size of its facility. With the expansion, the company can now accommodate topical powders and oral liquids. Specific services include: high shear wet granulation; fluid bed drying; top spray fluid bed granulation; direct compression; direct powder fill encapsulation; Wurster coating; 48-inch pancoating; and bottle packaging. The company can also provide development-, clinical- and commercial-scale controlled substances Schedule II through V. The expansion for these services includes: four new analytical labs; stability storage; a dedicated cytotoxic and potent lab; and a new microbiology lab. The company has also brought antibiotic assay and sterility testing online to offer full microbiological support of sterile products. As part of this growth, the company is adding 50 pharmaceutical scientists and technicians.
   
“For those of us who have worked with Metrics since its beginning, it has been a long-time dream to offer a full array of services that allow clients to keep development and commercial manufacturing projects under our roof,” said Phil Hodges, president. “It’s exciting to see the dream come to life, and we hope the additional capacity makes Metrics an even more attractive partner to clients and potential clients.”