Almac Sciences entered a new flow chemistry collaboration with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) to design and 3D print novel flow reactors and static mixers. The project will leverage the design freedom of Additive Manufacturing (AM, an industrialized approach to 3D printing) to make custom reactors allowing for previously unobtainable chemistry to be possible.
 
Flow chemistry is increasingly being used in the pharma industry to unlock reaction chemistry not possible in traditional batch mode. Almac, leveraging continuous flow technology, aims to offer clients the best available technology to meet demanding processing needs of today while securing manufacture for the future, by expediting the development of processes where the target chemistry is inherently difficult to scale due to safety concerns.
 
IMR is a manufacturing Research and Technology Organization (RTO) with labs and industrial pilot lines in Ireland. IMR aims to accelerate the implementation of key elements of Ireland’s industrial strategy and enable Irish based manufacturers to be early adopters of new technology.
 
Lead collaborator at IMR, Tristan McCallum said, “I am very excited about our collaboration with Almac Sciences where, with our expertise at IMR, we can support Irish industry to design and produce AM reactors and mixers locally; using the advanced additive manufacturing capability here in Ireland.”
 
Dr. Megan Smyth, Team Leader, Custom and Flow Chemistry at Almac Sciences commented: “This collaboration enables us to move to the next step of our flow chemistry service allowing immediate access to printed reactors with unique properties. This project will ensure we continue to offer our customers best-in-class technical solutions to address the many challenges that contract chemistry brings. As an industry, we need to develop innovative manufacturing routes that opens up access to new raw material supply chains with more secure and mature options. Flow chemistry can assist with this and we are delighted to be progressing it with IMR.” 
 
Earlier this year, Almac Sciences invested over £5million to establish its R&D center to support increased demand for biocatalysis, flow chemistry and peptides services.