Sigma Aldrich Expands CGMP Capacity with Iropharm Acquisition

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (St. Louis, MO, www.sigmaaldrich.com) has acquired Iropharm, Honeywell International's custom chemical synthesis business in Arklow, Ireland (www.honeywell.com). Terms of the cash purchase were not disclosed.

With this transaction, Sigma's SAFC custom manufacturing group gains the FDA-inspected CGMP manufacturing facility with a total reactor capacity of 90,000 L. The plant also includes a commercial-scale simulated moving bed (SMB) multicolumn chromatographic separation unit. SMB is known to resolve chiral compounds rapidly from racemic mixtures into pure enantiomers, allowing researchers to quickly develop enantiomerically pure drugs (see Pharmaceutical Technology's Special Report, May 2006).

"Because over 80% of newly developed drugs are chiral drugs and Iropharm is a leading player in the global field of SMB custom manufacturing, this addition puts SAFC in an even stronger position to serve the pharmaceutical industry," said Frank Wicks, SAFC president.