ReMediES Project concludes after four years of collaborative research and development between UK manufacturers and academia.

Medicine manufacturing is a major contributor the UK economy. To remain competitive in a growing industry, new manufacturing methods are required to make manufacturing faster and cost-effective.

As part of the UK’s focus to drive sustainable manufacturing, the RE-configuring MEDIcines End-to-end Supply (ReMediES) Project was established in 2014 to drive innovation through collaboration – particularly focusing on sharing technology and expertise to improve medicine manufacturing.  Robinson Brothers engaged on this Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative in 2015 funded-collaborative project, as member of 23 partners and aims to reduce production footprint in the manufacturing supply chain.

ReMediES Project member included several industrial and academic partners, as listed below:

• University of Cambridge
• Intensichem
• GEA
• Johnson Matthey
• University of Strathclyde
• C-Tech Innovation
• PSe
• Thomas Swan
• GSK
• Perceptive Engineering Ltd
• Crystecpharma
• Alliance Healthcare
• IfM
• Cambridge Reactor Design
• Alconbury Weston Ltd
• Juniper Pharma Solutions
• AstraZeneca
• Britest
• Cogent Skills
• Mettler Toledo
• CPI

Within this project, members Robinson Brothers and Cambridge Reactor Design (CRD) have worked together to trial a flow reactor at Robinson Brothers’ site. At present, manufacturing continues to be predominately batch processes which requires a large stock inventory and large campaign sizes. However, as companies look for more efficient and time-saving methods, there is a move towards continuous flow production. See Figure 1 (right): Chameleon flow reactor installed in Robinson Brothers' R&D laboratory fume cupboard.

Identifying process optimisation methods is a core competency of Robinson Brothers, thus, it is well-suited to now explore continuous flow production as part of their chemical manufacturing methods. Not only are reactions faster in a flow-reactor, but floor-space is significantly reduced. Along with hazards being reduced as reactions occur in a closed-environment; the quality of the material can be improved as there is less human intervention.

This £23M funded project ran over four years and created 83 jobs, as well as safeguarding 405 in the medicine manufacturing supply chain. ReMediES project aimed to improve medicine manufacturing by developing faster and efficient production processes. Projects outcomes included:

• Trialled a ‘just-in-time' clinical pharmacy to support drug trials
• Continuous flow manufacture was proven to improve manufacturing yields and reduce inventory of raw materials 
• Advances were made in the use of biocatalysis during manufacturing processes 
• Developed a new GMP supercritical fluid manufacturing facility 
• Smart labels were developed to allow product tracking in the supply chain 

To read the final report at https://remediesproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ReMediES-Collaborative-Research-in-Action.pdf

About Us
Robinson Brothers is a leading UK chemical manufacturer of intermediates for the Pharmaceutical, Agrochemical and Speciality Chemical industries as well as many others. Our team of Chemists are experts in custom synthesis, contract manufacture and process optimisation. We offer a range of technologies, including: Carbon disulfide chemistry, Heterocyclic chemistry, Hydrogenation, Thiolation – click here to find out more.

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Robinson Brothers Limited | West Midlands | B70 0AH UK
T: +44 (0)121 553 2451
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External link: https://remediesproject.com