MedPharm Ltd Invests $.75 Million in New Topical Formulation Performance Testing Laboratory

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Guildford UK, May 6, 2013, In response to strong QI growth in demand for its highly specialised skin permeation / penetration and in vitro release testing (IVRT) services for topical formulations, MedPharm has opened a new $.75 m purpose-built GLP laboratory at its UK headquarters in Guildford. MedPharm has grown into a global leader in the field of dermatological pre-clinical testing over the past 15 years by developing and validating over 100 such methods for numerous dosage forms, including all semi-solids formats, patches, sprays, mousses and foams.

The new laboratory is equipped with state of the art analytical equipment including HPLC, UPLC and LC-MS/MS . The additional space will provide further capacity for MedPharm’s proprietary in vitro/ex vivo performance and equivalence testing models for topical, ophthalmic, nail, nasal and inhaled drugs/medical devices which continue to see growing demand from its clients on all continents.

CEO Andrew Muddle says the growth is fuelled by a common need: “All dermatology companies need to find and launch new products. Therefore traditional players in the prescription field are all on acquisition sprees, the latest being the interesting tussle between Valeant and Merz over Obagi. We are also seeing Allergan come back strongly into the dermatology space. Meanwhile Merck Consumer Healthcare, GSK Consumer, Johnson & Johnson and Beiersdorf are all increasingly active in the OTC skin care market.”

Dr. Muddleobserves that the industry is responding through substantial investment in the investigation of NCEs in skin cancer, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis alongwith new areas such as rosacea. There is also a continuing effort being placed on repositioning existing drugs and improving life cycle management through different packaging and formulation strategies.

“All of these developments have combined to create a major increase in demand for our highly specialized services, “ continues Dr. Muddle. “ At the moment I would say we are among the world leaders in performance testing in topical formulation development. However, we don’t intend to stand still and are therefore now opening these new state of the art facilities in Guildford to increase our performance testing capacity.”

The new facility will also enhance the company’s microbiological capacity increasing output in areas of ex vivo/ in vitro efficacy testing for anti-infectives directed towards infections of these biological membranes (e.g. acne and Tinea Pedis) as well as the development of new drug formulations for inflammatory skin conditions (e.g. psoriasis and atopic dermatitis) and the development and testing of novel drug delivery systems.

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