Cambrex Expands Continuous Capabilities

Cambrex has completed the installation of multiple continuous flow reactor platforms at its High Point, NC facility. The investment underpins Cambrex's on-going commitment to new technologies and aims to reinforce the company's existing experience in continuous flow. This latest investment in continuous flow for process development will focus on the rapid and successful development of processes to supply clinical as well as commercial demand for chemical syntheses.

The investment in developmental capabilities builds upon the recent expansions made at the commercial-scale in the dedicated continuous flow production unit, at the Karlskoga, Sweden facility, which is capable of producing multiple metric tons of high purity intermediates per annum.

The new development center at High Point will be led by Dr. Shawn Conway, who has joined Cambrex as director of engineering R&D. With extensive experience in both pilot and commercial scale continuous processing, Dr. Conway will be supported by a team of chemical engineers.

"We are seeing significant interest in continuous flow development and production, predominantly from established pharmaceutical companies looking for process improvements in Phase II," said Brian Swierenga, vice president, operations and site director for Cambrex High Point. "We have designed the new laboratory and GMP pilot plant with maximum flexibility in mind, allowing us to explore the possibilities for both new and existing production projects, either on a FTE or custom contract basis."

The continuous flow development center is the latest investment at Cambrex's High Point site which has recently seen the completion and qualification of a new 11,000 sq.ft. analytical laboratory and a 400 sq.ft. pilot plant expansion with a reactor capacity of 4,000 liters.