Sterling Pharmaceuticals set for new growth
A NEW Birmingham-based pharmaceuticals manufacturer is going from strength to strength after securing new contracts and investment.
Sterling Pharmaceuticals is using the £150,000 Grant for Business Investment – awarded by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands – to develop new services.
Sterling was established by Dr Qamar Nawaz when he recgnised the growing gap in the market for the manufacture of Pharmaceutical oral liquids as licensed products and ‘specials’ formulations. ‘Specials’ formulations are specially formulated medicines designed in liquid form for specific clinical needs of individual patients.
Due to the relatively small quantities, specific dosages and specific skills mix required, large scale drug manufacturers find it difficult to provide this service and hospitals and GP surgeries do not have the equipment or expertise.
Sterling Pharmaceuticals is manufacturing and marketing oral liquid products both as specials and licensed medicines and these are supplied to wholesalers, distributors, NHS trusts and community pharmacies. The company is also exploring the opportunity to provide contract manufacturing services for third party clients for the manufacture of licensed products.
Currently Sterling has created 10 new jobs from contracts worth over £300,000 and hopes to be offering more positions once further contracts have been secured.
Dr Qamar Nawaz, chief executive of the firm, said: “Sterling is a small company with big ambitions. It has taken a lot of time and effort to get the necessary equipment, staff and licences in place to get to the stage we are at for offering pharmaceutical oral liquid products.
“Thanks to the GBI grant from Advantage West Midlands we have been able invest in plant to develop and test our products and services. It has allowed us to target our initial specials medicines market successfully and we now have almost £350,000 worth of contracts in place and are currently negotiating to win further contract manufacturing business from companies holding product licenses.”
The company’s ethos is to develop new products in-house and acquire licenses from other companies. It said it remained confident that its manufacturing facility, workforce and service offering would propel it to the front of the pharmaceuticals manufacturing sector within five years.
Phil Langford, AWM’s GBI Case Officer, said: “Sterling Pharmaceutical is a great example of a company formed from its founder’s university derived skills, expertise and knowledge. It is focused on a commercial need and succeeding beyond the founder’s expectations.”
The development agency is keen to encourage high tech manufacturers to set up in the region and has identified the medtech cluster as a significant growth industry in the years ahead.
