Intertek Acquires Melbourn

Intertek has acquired Melbourn Scientific Ltd, a provider of analysis and development services for the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries, based in Royston, near Cambridge, UK.

Melbourn offers a range of services to support the global pharmaceutical and healthcare industry including formulation and product development, analytical method development and validation, stability studies and QC release testing. In addition to services for conventionally delivered medicines, the company has expertise in characterization of orally inhaled and intranasal products (OINDP) and transdermal devices.

Patient-friendly drug-delivery methods have been gaining popularity as a means to achieve optimum therapeutic efficacy and efficiency as well as enhanced patient outcomes. Melbourn’s formulation services include reformulation of existing products to improve efficacy or extend patent life and to widen the market potential for a given product. As an example, reformulating an injection into an oral inhalation product is a key strategy of many global pharmaceutical majors to achieve increased market share by improving bioavailability and drug use uptake within a patient population (i.e., by improving delivery at the target) whilst reducing patient trauma.

Melbourn’s 20,000-square-feet facility complies with GMP standards and is regularly inspected by the UK Medicines and Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) and the FDA.

Dr. Andrew Swift, vice-president of Intertek Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, said in a press statement that combining the company’s capabilities for measuring device and drug interaction with Melbourn’s expertise in OINDP drug characterization would provide a unique offering to support drug development.