Upperton Pharma Solutions, a UK contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has begun construction work for its new development and GMP manufacturing headquarters in Nottingham, UK.

Working in close collaboration with its principal design and build contractor, T-Squared, the team officially broke ground on the project on the January 3, 2023, and work has now started in earnest to deliver the new, 50,000 square foot facility, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023.

The new site is situated at the recently opened Trent Gateway Business Park in Beeston (less than two miles from Upperton’s current headquarters) and will provide a significant expansion of the company’s capabilities in terms of capacity and scale of manufacture with the incorporation of ten new GMP manufacturing suites, quality control laboratories and dedicated analytical and formulation development laboratories with pilot plant facilities. When fully operational it is expected to create in the region of 150 additional full-time jobs by the end of 2024.

“Breaking ground on our new state-of-the-art manufacturing and development headquarters is without doubt one of the most important milestones in our company’s twenty-year history,” said Nikki Whitfield, CEO, Upperton Pharma Solutions. “This plant has been in the planning for almost twelve months, so to see the plans finalized and work start on the site is hugely satisfying not only to us as a business, but also for our customers as we can now offer them a seamless transition from early development to clinical trials and commercial manufacturing, all at the one site.”

The Trent Gateway site will have the capability to handle a range of dosage forms including solids, liquids, semi-solids, nasal and inhaled products, allowing it to support early formulation development, provide clinical trial supplies from Phase 1 to Phase 3 and niche-scale commercial manufacture. The GMP facility design, equipment procurement and containment capabilities have been aligned with larger scale process trains, supporting batch scales of up to 250kg.