Almac Clinical Services, a contract development and manufacturing organization headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland and part of the Almac Group, has completed a multi-million-pound expansion of its cold chain infrastructure at its global headquarters.
The investment includes a newly built ultra-low temperature (ULT) facility that has tripled the site’s secondary packaging capacity for -15°C to -25°C products and doubled its ULT storage capacity (-60°C to -80°C), the company said. According to Almac, these upgrades are part of its broader strategy to enhance cold chain capabilities globally, with similar improvements already made at its sites in North Carolina and Singapore.
At the Craigavon location, cold chain packaging capabilities reportedly have increased by more than 60%. The site also added new 2°C to 8°C secondary production rooms, upgraded its cold chain management center, and installed new label printing, checking, and packaging design facilities.
According to the company, the expansion is intended to meet rising demand for advanced therapy medicinal products — including cell and gene therapies — that require stringent temperature control throughout manufacturing and distribution.
Almac said the new infrastructure was built to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards and supports clients with compliant, cost-effective packaging and labeling of biological investigational medicinal products for clinical trials.
In March, Almac Group announced the opening of an $84 million, 100,000-square-foot commercial manufacturing facility for Almac Pharma Services at its global headquarters in Craigavon. Almac Pharma Services specializes in pharmaceutical drug product development, manufacture, and commercial services.