Member Article

Sunderland University and SCM Pharma celebrate new partnership

A North East drug company has set up a new facility at the University of Sunderland as part of a collaborative deal to support a new formulation service.

Prudhoe based SCM specialises in making sterile drug products and has chosen the university’s £8.5m Sciences Complex to house its news laboratory space.

The new service will compliment its established clinical trial product, and follows a two-year development project with Mitovie Pharma to assist the speciality drug developer with formulation support.

Dianne Sharp, managing director at SCM Pharma, said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with the University of Sunderland to help widen our service and support our continued expansion.

“This is a huge milestone for our business and what better stages than the international events this month to simultaneously launch this core new service to the European and North American markets.

“Although we have seen huge export growth over the last two years, we are now working with most of the universities in the region, which emphasises how committed and firmly rooted we are in the North East.”

The company will use pharmaceutical trade events in Germany and the USA as global platforms to showcase its new in-house service.

Dianne Sharp added that the deal would demonstrate how local partnerships established right on the doorstep can impact global markets.

Dr Adrian Moore, team leader for Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Sunderland, said: “linking up with SCM Pharma in our Sciences Complex is an incredibly exciting opportunity for our scientific staff, students and researchers on campus and is a reflection of our significant experience in the area of pharmaceutics.

“We have state-of-the-art analytical equipment on site that SCM Pharma can access, which will help support the rapid development of their new products, as well as exposure to a team of specialists with expertise in pharmaceutics.

“Working in conjunction with a leading North East SME also greatly enhances our student experience as our students will be able to interact with people in the pharmaceutical industry and see first-hand pharmaceutical practices in operation.”

Pharmacist and former Sunderland University graduate Ian Davis has been recruited to support the launch and operate as a scientist assisting the company’s technical team.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .