Almac Group, a Craigavon, Northern Ireland-based global contract development and manufacturing organization, has confirmed a £16 million ($24.3 million) investment to expand its formulation and analytical development services to meet ongoing client demand.

The company announced the successful conclusion to negotiations to operate a significant proportion of the 70-acre Charnwood Campus in Loughborough, England—a world-class science, technology and enterprise park. Specifically, Almac will occupy the formulation development and analytical testing facilities at the site, which will complement existing development and GMP services offered from its Craigavon headquarters.

The Charnwood facilities were originally designed and built by a global Pharma company as part of its in-house formulation development, clinical manufacturing and analytical testing capabilities. Almac now has commenced the recommissioning of the facilities with operations focusing initially on expanding both non-potent and potent solid oral dose processing, creating about 180 new jobs in the next five years. An operational start date is targeted for Q1 2017.