Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Specials Lab's core business is manufacturing and supplying unlicensed drugs ('specials') and over-labelled medicines to community and hospital pharmacists and doctors throughout the UK and Ireland. They also provide a veterinary manufacturing service to support vet surgeries which require unlicensed medicines for animals. Specials are required for patients that have a medical need that cannot be met by a standard licence product. The majority of products manufactured are made to meet the medical needs of an indivdual patient.

MSD is the UK subsidiary of Merck, and is a leading healthcare company. Its pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biological, consumer health and animal health products cover a wide range of therapeutic areas of prescription products. Its Cramlington site, a global centre for stability testing, enables Merck to be a worldwide supplier of bulk tablets, a regional supplier of finished packs and currently supplies approximately 20% of the company's tablet volume.

Pharma Solutions (PPS), a division of Piramal Healthcare, is a leading global pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation offering services across the entire drug-from development and commercial manufacturing to off-patent supplies of API and formulations. Their Morpeth site specialises in API development and manufacturing, commercial packaging and clinical trials manufacturing and supplies.

Covance is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development service companies. Through its doscovery, non-clinical, clinical and commercialisation services, Covance has helped pharmaceutical and biotech companies develop one third of all prescription medicines on the market today.

The active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) which Aesica manufacturers in Cramlington can be found incorporated into medicines all over the world. Aesica is a fast growing global company headquarted in Newcastle upon Tyne with operations across Europe that started at the Cramlington site.

Northumberland council continues to support Aesica's growth and recently helped the business secure £630,000 of support from the Government's Regional Growth Fund.

SCM Pharma is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) that makes novel, difficult, clinical trial and low volume licensed product supply needs.

Established in 2004, the award-winning SCM Pharma is one of the leading lights in the North East's manufacturing and science sector and is one of the world's specialist CDMOs. The company provides development and sterile production services to assist clients progressing their drug products or medical devices through clinical trials. SCM Pharma also makes niche licensed drugs for customers that require the ongoing commercial supply of certain medicines.

Alongside its clinical trial facility in Prudhoe, the company will open the doors of its new nearby £6m sterile manufacturing site, which will become the hub of the commercial production operation for sevral licensed pharmaceutical products that will reliably supply to clients and patients across the globe.