Cambrex has completed a new 600 square meter facility at its site in Karlskoga, Sweden, which incorporates new laboratories for process and analytical development.
 
The new, three-story building will incorporate process technology, QC and analytical development laboratories. The process technology laboratories will expand capacity providing an area where R&D and production teams can work together on scale up demonstration and technology transfer, including new capabilities in the scaling up of potent molecules requiring containment. The facility will employ computer modeling to optimize reactor set ups and plant conditions to improve technology transfer and the performance of existing processes.
 
The laboratory also includes high pressure reaction vessels and crystallization equipment to optimize drug substance manufacturing, as well as expanding the temperature range at which reactions can be carried out, with vessels to handle conditions from cryogenic to nearly 200 degrees Celsius. The new QC and analytical development laboratories increase the capacity and capabilities for handling in-process and raw material analysis.
 
To support the site’s recent growth, which has included the expansion of large scale manufacturing capacity, a new $6 million, 3,000 square meter logistics center has also been completed and opened. This includes a fully cGMP-compliant warehouse with integral temperature monitoring and control, and has the capacity for 4,500 pallets.
 
“This expansion and investments we have made at Karlskoga are part of an ongoing strategic program to ensure it has the flexibility, capacity and capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the market and industry,” said Bjarne Sandberg, managing director, Cambrex Karlskoga. “The new technical laboratory will act as a hub for the company’s engineers, operators and chemists to ensure smooth scale up and handover of processes from development sites across our global network.”
 
Cambrex’s site in Karlskoga employs over 400 people and features a wide range of flexible manufacturing facilities including 4 cGMP pilot plants and 7 full scale commercial production units.