PARIS and ST. LOUIS, Oct.
6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CPhI Worldwide -- SAFC, a
member of the Sigma-Aldrich® Group (Nasdaq: SIAL), today announced
the completion of its state-of-the-art expansion of its
Jerusalem, Israel facility.
The additional capacity expands SAFC's contract manufacturing
capabilities in large molecule recombinant proteins and small
molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) through
fermentation, including High Potent APIs (HPAPIs) and secondary
metabolites.
The 50,000 sq. ft. cGMP fermentation expansion, which is
expected to begin production in October
2010, will focus on niche fermentation of APIs and bulk
drugs, producing secondary metabolites (antibiotic-like molecules),
cytotoxins and large-molecule proteins. A 30,000 sq. ft. area of
the new facility has been designed to be Biosafety Level 2
compliant - enabling manipulation of human pathogens. Capabilities
include 1,000 and 4,000-liter tank capacities for bacterial and
fungal fermentation, as well as explosion-proof suites.
"Fermentation is a long-standing technology, yet new
applications have been recently discovered, including the synthesis
of high potency compounds, which is a major growth area currently
driving contract manufacturers such as SAFC to look beyond
traditional active pharmaceutical ingredient (APIs)," said SAFC
President, Gilles Cottier. "The
Jerusalem expansion builds upon
over 30 years of Sigma-Aldrich experience in the development and
manufacture of hundreds of microbial-derived products, and is
expected to help SAFC augment its industry-leading strategy of
strength and expertise in emerging, highly-specialized technologies
and difficult to manufacture products."
At the Jerusalem facility, SAFC
employs E.coli, Streptomyces sp., filamentous fungi
and yeast, including risk group 2 human pathogens, across a wide
product portfolio that includes small organic molecules and
peptides, as well as larger molecules such as proteins, lipids and
carbohydrates or macromolecules.
"We believe a primary differentiator at our Jerusalem site is our capability to safely
manufacture niche small molecule products and biologics such as
natural or recombinant proteins," added Cottier. "In addition to
having industry-leading techniques, capability and infrastructure
to manufacture fermentation derived HPAPIs, the site is a
multi-disciplinary, full-service facility offering purification and
analytical expertise associated with fermentation technology such
as microbiology, organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular
biology."
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that
can be identified by terminology such as "is expected," "expected
to help," or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied
discussions regarding potential future revenues from products
derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these
statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current
views of management regarding future events, and involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
statements. There can be no guarantee that any of Sigma-Aldrich's'
products will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the
future. In particular, management's expectations regarding these
products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected
regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally;
the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other
proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in
general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures;
the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values
attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in
its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors
referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the
US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these
risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially
from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
Sigma-Aldrich is providing the
information in this press release as of this date and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
About SAFC: SAFC is the custom manufacturing and services
business unit of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation. We are recognized as a
top 10 global fine molecule supplier and trusted manufacturer of
specialty chemicals and biologics for the life science and high
technology industries. Utilizing global "Centers of Excellence" and
dedicated manufacturing facilities, SAFC can resolve development
and manufacturing challenges and accelerate the production of
custom materials. Our rich portfolio includes high-purity inorganic
materials for high technology applications, cell culture products,
services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and biochemical
production, and complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and
key intermediates. For more information about SAFC, visit
www.safcglobal.com.
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life
Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic
chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic
research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis
of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high
technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science
companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and
in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its
products. Sigma-Aldrich operates
in 40 countries and has 7,600 employees providing excellent service
worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is
committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and
Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more
information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web
site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.
SAFC®, SAFC Hitech® and Sigma-Aldrich® are registered of
Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co. Safebridge®
is a registered trademark of Safebridge Consultants, Inc.
SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich
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