The Almac Group unveiled an £80 million investment program to build new extensive manufacturing, production, and diagnostic lab facilities at its global headquarters in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. 

The expansion, which is part of the global investment program announced in 2022, will significantly grow operations for two of the group’s business units, Almac Pharma Services and Almac Diagnostic Services. 

Almac Pharma Services supports the development and commercialization of new treatment options for a wide range of therapy areas including oncology and immunology. Almac Diagnostic Services offers a range of biomarker discovery, development, and commercialization solutions to Biopharma partners globally.

The first of these two major projects is a £65 million, 100,000 sq.-ft. state-of-the-art multi-product good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility for Almac Pharma Services, which will be operational 3Q24. The center of excellence significantly increases Almac Pharma Services’ manufacturing capacity and will support the company’s existing global partnerships, providing drug development, manufacture, and commercial services.

The new facility will primarily support solid oral dose products and includes an extension to current scales of production for products involving potent and highly potent APIs. The high-specification production suites have been designed with flexibility and a wide range of uses in mind. The facility houses a custom designed dispensary area, multiple production suites, process equipment, wash facilities and a lineside warehouse for ambient, refrigerated, and frozen storage. 

The second project is a 40,000 sq.- ft. four-story diagnostic development and manufacturing center for Almac Diagnostic Services which is due for completion by 1Q24.  This facility will enable expansion of its biomarker discovery and assay development offerings and manufacturing and distribution of companion diagnostic (CDx) kits on a commercial scale.

John McQuaid, president and managing director, Almac Pharma Services said, “In the past five years we have experienced increased demand for our pharmaceutical development, commercial manufacturing, and packaging solutions. Our strong track record and expertise in handling complex and challenging molecules across a range of batch scales enables us to offer clients a variety of solutions to meet the individual requirements of their products.”