Release issued 5th August 2005

The Health Protection Agency is undertaking an upgrade and refurbishment of its GMP filling and freeze-drying unit at its Centre at Porton Down at a cost of over £2 million.

The upgrade will see the installation of a new Groniger DFVK 6000 fully automatic, continuous motion filling and stoppering machine that will significantly increase the unit's flexibility. The new machine is able to handle a wider range of vial sizes than the previous machine and is also much quicker, being able to fill up to a maximum of 18,000 vials per hour.

The Agency, which is a licensed manufacturer of biological products, is undertaking the upgrade to ensure that it maintains the capability to fill one of its own medicinal products. The refurbishment will last until October 2005 and will be followed by a period of validation. An additional benefit is that the upgrade will provide the unit with excess capacity that will be available for contract work from 2006.

Specialising in small volume and niche applications, we will be able to undertake contract filling and freeze drying of material for clinical trials, or one-off specialist pieces of work for proteins, enzymes and other biological products. Run by a dedicated team of fully trained technicians and supported by our quality systems, we aim to offer a flexible service that will complement our existing work.

For more information on our capabilities, or to discuss technical aspects of the new facility and how we may be able to assist your development plans, please contact Mr Mark Shaftesley (Head of Production & Facilities) via production@hpa.org.uk or Tel +44 (0)1980 612100.

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