Almac Sciences Invests £500K in Spectroscopy Lab Instrumentation

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Almac Sciences, which is part of Almac Group, announced on Jan. 16, 2025 that it is investing £500,000 (US$611,500 approximately) in state-of-the-art instrumentation to be deployed in its spectroscopy laboratories at the company’s global headquarters in Craigavon, United Kingdom (1).

In a press release, Almac said it recently purchased an Agilent 6545XT AdvanceBio Q-TOF (quadrupole-time-of-flight) mass spectrometer and a Malvern Panalytical Empyrean X-Ray Powder Diffractometer to support its spectroscopy goals.

Almac said the investment is additional with respect to a previously announced £11 million (US$14.7 million) spend, made public in October 2024, that aims to expand the company’s global analytical services capabilities and create 100 jobs (2).

John Malone, PhD, associate director of spectroscopy for Almac Sciences, commented on the variety of services clients will be able to benefit from, including quantitation of genotoxic impurities, trace elemental analysis, isotopic purity determinations, structure elucidation, analysis of peptides, proteins, glycoproteins and antibody products, as well as polymorph screening, confirmation, and quantitation of crystalline phases, according to the press release (1).

“The continued investment and growth in our spectroscopy laboratories underline Almac’s commitment to providing the best analytical facilities for its customers, and seamlessly meeting their needs,” Malone said in the release (1). “We are delighted to offer our clients cutting-edge technology that supports their product safety imperative and accelerates the drug development cycle.”

The Craigavon facility is equipped, according to the press release, with instrumentation that couples with mass spectrometry, including liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma systems, as well as X-ray powder diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance tools (1).

Almac said these instruments, and the continuing investment in them, “substantially increase” capability for solving complex analytical issues, provide additional security for urgent analyses, and allow for superior data integrity controls in the interest of satisfying regulatory compliance.

“As we continue to enhance our analytical capabilities, our commitment to excellence remains unwavering,” Darren Thomas, PhD, Almac vice president of analytical operations, said in the release. “This substantial investment in cutting-edge technology emphasizes our dedication to offering comprehensive analytical solutions to clients around the world."

At CPHI Milan 2024, Pharmaceutical Technology^® spoke with Almac Pharma Services President and Managing Director John McQuaid about how the pharmaceutical industry is growing and what might drive investment in the future.

“There's quite a diverse range of drivers at the moment, anything from the BIOSECURE Act in the [United States], geopolitical factors such as that, right through to technology needs for emerging modalities,” McQuaid said at the time (3). “If I speak about pharmaceutical development ... there's never been a larger number of molecules in clinical development, and we're certainly seeing that increasing demand.”

Click here to watch the entire interview with John McQuaid.

Almac also has locations in Charnwood, UK; Souderton, Pa. in the United States; Athlone, Ireland; and Dundalk, Ireland (2).

References

1. Almac Sciences. Almac Invests £500,000 in State-of-the-Art Instrumentation Within Spectroscopy Laboratories. Press Release. Jan. 16, 2025.
2. Almac Group. Almac Group Announces £11m Investment to Expand Global Analytical Services. Press Release. Oct. 1, 2024.
3. Thomas, F. CPHI Milan 2024: Pharma Industry Growth and Investment. PharmTech.com, Oct. 11, 2024.