DPT Laboratories today announced continued investments in its manufacturing facilities that further cement its position as the industry leader for semi-solids and liquids.

Since completing $45m in capacity expansion and equipment upgrades for its San Antonio, TX, and Lakewood, NJ, facilities in mid-2010, DPT plans to invest another $14million in the facilities to strengthen its leadership in the CDMO market.

At its Center of Excellence for Semi-solids & Liquids in San Antonio, DPT will invest almost $4m in additional upgrades to its contract compounding and pharmaceutical packaging facilities, including a washroom expansion for capacity and process flow improvement.

Equipment upgrades over the next few months will include a new small-scale compounding suite with two new dissolvers, as well as new infrastructure to handle larger deliveries from suppliers to support increased production at the contract pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.

After completing $30m in expansions and upgrades at its Center of Excellence for Sterile & Specialty Products in Lakewood last year, DPT will invest another $10m in the contract pharmaceutical manufacturing and development facility. Equipment upgrades to be in place within the coming months include installation of innovative new small-volume parenteral filler that is designed to be fully automated, integrated and isolated from vial wash through tray filling.

Based on consolidated filling technology, IMA’s Modular Aseptic Compact (MAC) System offers the reliability of a fully automated line in 20% of the space. The aseptic processing system will reduce the likelihood of introducing microbiological contamination and make the entire process more efficient.

"These facility and processing upgrades expand our capacity and, most importantly, increase our ability to better serve customers with high-speed, cost-effective manufacturing runs," said Paul Johnson, president and COO. "Continued investment at this level represents our commitment to maintaining our position as the leading provider of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services for semi-solid and liquid products."

DPT restructured its contract pharmaceutical manufacturing and development facilities in 2010 to create three Centers of Excellence, each focusing on a particular area of expertise, and made significant investments in expanding facilities and upgrading equipment at two of those sites.

The Center for Sterile & Specialty Products in Lakewood specializes in the development and aseptic manufacturing of clinical trial material and commercial scale products to meet sterile requirements. The $30m in infrastructure improvements at the 175,000ft² center in 2010 included a new state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory, significant new pharmaceutical clean room assets and keep DPT at the forefront of the sterile and specialty CDMO market.

The Center for Semi-solids & Liquids in San Antonio provides cGMP pilot, clinical and commercial scale manufacturing for prescription and over-the-counter products. The center also includes a dedicated cGMP aerosol and pMDI manufacturing facility.

A $15m expansion at the facility in 2010 increased capacity in its bulk manufacturing and packaging areas to support increased production and capacity.

In addition, DPT’s Center for Research & Development in San Antonio provides pharmaceutical development services to include pre-formulation and formulation development, as well as analytical development and validation services. This center performs research and development activities and supports technical transfers to the applicable manufacturing center of excellence.