SAFC Pharma expands UK Pharmorphix facility

SAFC, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, has completed the initial phase of a two-stage expansion at its SAFC Pharmorphix research facility in Cambridge, UK, for its SAFC Pharma business. Completion of a 2,500 square foot laboratory extension will be followed by additional investment in the spring as part of a $600,000 program.

SAFC Pharmorphix is one of a few organizations specializing in solid-form characterization and research. These services focus on understanding and modifying the physical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients to ensure patient benefit, optimize product development and protect intellectual property, the company notes. Services include polymorph investigation, salt selection, physiochemical property determinations, pre-formulation profiling, co-crystallization, classical chiral resolution and crystallization studies.

The expanded laboratory will support expected growth in addition to developing leading-edge science and analytical techniques. In the second quarter of 2007, SAFC Pharmorphix expects to introduce additional state-of-the-art X-ray crystallography equipment into the laboratory.