Abbott opens pharma development centre

Abbott has announced the opening of its new formulation development centre at its headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois.

The $53 million (27.2 million pound) facility will provide the ability to formulate novel investigational drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, with the equipment and technology at the site to speed up the development process.

Abbott reports that the centre will support programmes for potent drugs requiring special handling and non-potent orally-administered compounds.

There are 17 dedicated onsite employees at the facility, with over 40 extra members of staff regularly working there.

Equipment at the site has been aligned with the production equipment found at the company’s manufacturing facilities to allow the scaling up of productions as compounds move towards the later phases of development.

John Leonard, senior vice-president of pharmaceuticals, research and development, said: “With the growing number of compounds in Abbott’s pipeline, the new centre utilises the latest technology to accelerate the development of future medicines.”

He added that the new pharmaceutical development centre is an example of the company’s dedication to progressing innovation in science.

Last week, Abbott published its Ingenuity at Work report highlighting its commitment to accessing healthcare and underlining its contribution to education, innovation, the environment and science.