Keeping pace with the global topical and transdermal business boom

MedPharm has invested heavily in robotics to automate skin testing for developing topical drug formulations.

MedPharm invests in $0.75 million cutting-edge instrumentation to further automated testing and expands workforce.

The investment covers the latest Hamilton Vantage robot for sample handling, a top of the line ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry instrument (UPLC-MS/MS) and a UHPLC with both UV-VIS and fluorescence detectors. The new equipment is designed to help MedPharm manage a major upsurge in global demand for its services and has already led to a major increase in sample throughput, improved reproducibility and increased analytical sensitivity. The US site has also expanded its workforce to over 20 scientists and support staff.

The new Hamilton Vantage robot is the first of its type to be installed in the Southeast US and will reduce testing variation as well as dramatically increase throughput. The UPLC-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer system from Waters is the third LC-MS/MS to be installed in the MedPharm US. This new top of the line system allows very high sensitivity analyses and enables MedPharm’s customers to achieve low picogram per milliliter detection limits in pharmacokinetic and performance testing studies.

“This significant investment in both equipment and staff highlights MedPharm’s determination to expand our capabilities to meet growing customer demand for our services and also to stay at the forefront of the technology beneficial to the sectors in which we operate,” commented Dr Jon Lenn, MedPharm’s Senior Vice President of US Operations. “As regulatory demands increase, this new equipment allows us to maintain our leading edge in the pharmaceutical formulation development and testing sectors for topical and transdermal products.”