New Intertek Pharmaceutical facilities opened in Ireland
14 Jul 2008
Local parliamentarian and CEO open Intertek Pharmaceutical facility in Athlone
Mary O’Rourke TD, a senior Irish politician, performed the official opening of the new, extended state-of-the-art pharmaceutical laboratory facility for Intertek at Monksland in Athlone, Ireland.
Intertek (ITRK.L), a global company listed on the London Stock Exchange, is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. Intertek acquired the BioClin Research Laboratories in February this year from its Irish-owners. It has extended and enhanced the facilities, which continue to be locally run and managed, to increase the businesses ability to support the Irish and international pharmaceutical industry.
Ireland is a key European centre for pharmaceutical manufacturing, andincreasingly R&D, with many of the world's top-selling drugs being produced in Ireland.
Mary O’Rourke TD said “Intertek’s investment in BioClin and this new,larger purpose-designed facility is excellent news for Athlone and the surrounding region. Intertek’s investment is a superb endorsement of the calibre of the services that Irish people and companies can provide to international business.It significantly improves the range of services that the company can provide to the pharmaceutical R&D industry not just in Ireland but also internationally I am pleased to welcome Intertek to Athlone and I congratulate BioClin founders Mary Burke and Brian McKenna on successfully growing their business and its reputation to where it is today.”
Intertek’s laboratory facility at Athlone is a leading GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) certified, FDA and cGMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) compliant contract research laboratory. It provides contract bio-analysis and analytical research and development, with advanced analytical services including liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) to the local and international pharmaceutical, bio pharmaceutical and medical device industries. At 9,500 sq ft it is around 40% larger than the original 6,000 sq ft facility operated in Athlone for the past five years. It employs 20 people, 95% of whom are science graduates or post graduates. Intertek continues to grow its global support and services to the pharmaceutical sector through recent acquisitions and investment in organic growth in this sector internationally.
Wolfhart Hauser, Intertek’s CEO, attending the opening ceremony, said “Intertek is pleased to grow our support to our global pharmaceutical clients and pharmaceutical industry in Ireland. As Intertek’s first significant laboratoryin Ireland, we are pleased to bring the reach of our global network of quality and safety services and laboratories to Irish business looking to trade globally and support business growth in Athlone and greater Ireland”.
Dr. John Conti-Ramsden, Global Director of Intertek’s Pharmaceutical Services,said “this expansion consolidates and enhances the level of services we can provide to the pharmaceutical R&D industry not just in Ireland, but now also overseas through Intertek’s reach. Intertek already provides a wide range of testing services to pharmaceutical clients from its laboratories in theUK, USA, India and Australia.”
About Intertek’s Pharmaceutical Services
Intertek Pharmaceutical Services is a preferred partner to organisations in the pharmaceutical, medical device, drug delivery and personal care industries across the world and is known for its quality, professionalism, performance and solutions. An international network of laboratories and offices provides laboratory testing, laboratory outsourcing, consulting, R&D, validation and certification services for clients on a global basis.
Intertek’s goal is to help product developers and manufacturers balance the competing pressures of time to market, cost and quality by offering access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and benchmark industry expertise in laboratories and offices at multiple locations.
BioClin Research Laboratories
BioClin Research Laboratories was established in 2002 as an independentcontractresearch company to provide clinical, bioanalytical and analytica lsupportservices to pharmaceutical and bio pharmaceutical companies involved in product development. BioClin saw Intertek as an ideal partner to provide the investment and business development and marketing network to realise its strategic plansfor growth. It now operates in Intertek Group plc's Pharmaceutical Services group within its Analytical Services Division.
BioClin was set-up by Mary Burke (Managing Director) and BrianMcKenna(Scientific Director), whose areas of expertise are clinical pharmacology project management and bioanalysis. Both were Senior Managers within R&D function of Elan Corporation's Drug Delivery Division in Athlone. BioClin achieved GLP certification by NAB in 2003 and cGMP certification by IMB in Jan 2007. The company’s strategy is to grow its range of R&D support services particularly in the bio-pharmaceutical area to support the growing Irish and international market.