The Chennai-based pharma major, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Orchid) today announced that its Carbapenem API manufacturing facility located in Aurangabad, near Mumbai has been conferred with the Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) in the Regional Excellence Category.
The Facility of the Year Awards are instituted by ISPE, Interphex and Pharmaceutical Processing and is a premier global awards program focused on recognizing the innovation and creativity utilized by manufacturing facilities serving the regulated healthcare industry. ISPE, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, is the Society of choice for 25,000 pharmaceutical science and manufacturing professionals in 90 countries.
According to sources from the industry, to accommodate the growing number of development products and promote the application of new technologies, Orchid created a new facility with modern and flexible cGMP aspects to manufacture internationally acceptable products.
The Carbapenem Production Facility is located in Aurangabad, India, 400 kilometers away from Mumbai and consists of four well-integrated production blocks (Intermediate/API/Sterile/Hydrogenation), with each block designed with dedicated service and production areas. All critical operations are contained in clean rooms and advanced technical systems are used in all sections of manufacturing.
Orchid took several measures to conserve energy and reduce manufacturing costs during facility design, including the implementation of a horizontal scrubbing system that uses 30 per cent less power than conventional scrubbing systems, as well as the installation of energy-efficient vacuum systems, a multi-stage evaporator, water-cooled refrigeration systems, and fluorescent lighting. In addition, Orchid implemented automated systems for nitrogen blanketing for centrifuges, flash steam recovery, and secondary steam generation from evaporators to save energy. The team also implemented equipment designs that enabled significant reduction in cycle time, such as an ultrasonic crystallizer and agitated Nutsche Filter Dryer.
Besides, there are several aspects of this project that are unique and innovative for this geographic location. The Carbapenem Production Facility employs one of the first cGMP operational systems for bulk API handling in India. And not only was the high degree of facility automation critical for providing operational ease, improved safety and process integrity, and consistency in production, but it is also a completely novel concept in India, company sources said.