A £1m plant for manufacturing pharmaceutical particles was opened by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Stephen Byers) on June 9. The plant is run by Bradford Particle Design Plc (BPD) and uses supercritical fluid technology developed at Bradford university's school of pharmacy.
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Professor York, Dr Hanna and Dr Humphries (left to right) at the opening of the new particle plant |
The new plant occupies a separate unit at Listerhills science park, adjacent to Bradford university's campus. Dr Walker said that the company had taken the shell of the building and created a good manufacturing practice environment inside. The company was currently in the process of validating new equipment ahead of an inspection by the American Food and Drug Administration in September.
Most of the work carried out by BPD consists of feasibility studies for major pharmaceutical companies. This includes producing respirable particles of peptides or proteins and nanoparticles of poorly water-soluble drugs. Work has also been undertaken in separating polymorphs of compounds.
BPD was set up in 1994 as a commercial spin-off by the university. Professor Peter York, Dr Mazden Hanna and Dr Gwyn Humphries of the school of pharmacy were the founders. They are chief scientist, principal scientist and managing director, respectively. The university remains a major shareholder. The solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) technology for the controlled formulation of particles was initially developed by Professor York and Dr Hanna with the support of Glaxo Plc.