Almac's North American Headquarters Opens its Doors for Audits

SOUDERTON, Pennsylvania, October 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Almac has officially begun hosting customer audits onsite at the new North American Headquarters. Nine companies have already been given a tour of the new facility by Business Development staff. Almac has also hosted three of five "audit open houses" in which multiple customers are free to attend. The audits have been well received with auditors praising the overall structure of the building and its ability to efficiently accommodate their needs.

"The tours have gone very well and the feedback has been extremely positive. Auditors have been most interested in touring the physical space of facility since it is an entirely new building," said Mark Rohlfing, Director of Quality. "They have been most impressed with the sheer size of the facility, in particular the warehouse and cold store spaces which alone represent a 4 to 5 fold increase in capacity over our existing spaces. Almac is very proud of its new facility and hopes that clients can appreciate the added benefits it provides to them."

One main design feature consistently noted by auditors was the overall building layout. The flow of materials and personnel was a key component in deciding the specific location of each internal department. The layout makes for a smoother transition of materials between each location throughout the supply chain. Equally impressive to guests is the high-level of design on the primary production floor, most notably the use of clean room panels, flush mounted windows, and airlocks with air pressure gradients. Many have also noted that employee workstations are well situated making maximum use of natural daylight with many affording a view of the surrounding farmland.

Auditing groups have had the chance to sit down with Almac representatives after the tours to review numerous facility and equipment qualification documents. They have reviewed SOPs, environmental monitoring protocols, and plans for relocating operations.

Additional benefits that are offered to clients is the unification of Almac's Clinical Services and Clinical Technologies units under one roof as well as introducing its Sciences unit in the United States for the first time. In terms of a scientific presence, analytical and solid state services will be provided by Almac via 2,925 square feet of laboratory space located on the 2nd floor of Building two. The laboratories, located on the same floor as primary production, will provide analytical services, solid state services, and a write up area for up to 20 analysts. ICH compliant stability rooms are available to support the analytical requirements.

Currently, tours are being scheduled for the remainder of 2010 and into 2011. Anyone interested in scheduling a tour is encouraged to reach out to their local Almac representative or visit the headquarters website at http://www.findpharmony.com and clicking on "request a tour".

Notes to Editors

About Almac Group

The Almac Group comprises five closely integrated divisions offering a broad range of services from R&D, biomarker discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply and IXRS technology (IVRS/IWRS), to commercial-scale manufacture. Almac provides services to more than 600 companies, including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

The company employs over 2,800 individuals and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Almac has officially gained full possession of its new $120m North American Headquarters, which started in July 2008, and employees will relocate during the fall.

For more information about the Almac Group, please visit http://www.almacgroup.com or email [email protected].

SOURCE Almac Group