Bespak has further enhanced its credentials as a global leader with the commissioning of a specialised and dedicated elastomer manufacturing facility at its King's Lynn site
The state of the art facility will enable Bespak to offer its pharmaceutical partners an unrivalled capability in the development and manufacture of pressurised metered dose inhaler (pMDI) valves.
The creation of new elastomer technologies is of key strategic importance to Bespak.
The company's recent track record in securing new pMDI development programmes with hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) formulations and its recognition by Frost and Sullivan as the winner of the 2005 Technology Innovation award are both due, to some extent, to the company's current elastomer technology.
The purpose built facility will support and accelerate future development work, enabling Bespak to maintain its market leading position.
The project has been commissioned with a no compromise, best practice approach.
The facility will be technically equivalent to any current operation and has been designed to the exacting specifications demanded by Bespak engineers.
Key considerations around process control, access, cleanliness and scale-up for manufacture have all been managed within the infrastructure design.
The design of the dedicated service areas for the moulding operation has been particularly innovative, where the 'dirty' aspects of the machine are excluded from the component finishing areas, whilst allowing full access for equipment servicing.
The equivalence testing work is already underway, with the first material due to be produced in Q2 2006.
Modestino Graziano, business programme manager, commented: "Cleaner, more effective elastomers are a critical component in the continued success of Bespak.
"This purpose-built facility not only enables us to better continue our development work, but also offers additional capacity and better control.
"Our principal elastomer supplier for marketed pMDI products, West Pharmaceutical Services, has been very supportive of this project and will remain a key supply partner for many years to come".
"Our agreement with Bespak is firmly rooted in our corporate mission to improve the safety and effectiveness of healthcare delivery systems worldwide," said Mike Schaefers, director of marketing, Europe for WPS.
Chris Hall, general manager for the respiratory division added: "Following the launch of the purpose built pMDI hall in 2003, this world-class facility is yet another tangible example of Bespak's commitment to creating better, more effective, specialty medical devices.
"This facility will create a unique point of difference for Bespak - coupled with our existing ethanolic extraction facilities we will offer a truly end-to-end capability in the development of new pMDI valves."
