What has been driving growth for AMPAC Fine Chemicals (AFC) over the past few years?

As the pharmaceutical sector continues to grow at a record pace, the growth of CDMOs that support these customers has also grown. AFC is expanding at all locations – at our headquarters in Sacramento, CA as well as our sites in Houston, TX, and Petersburg, VA.

Who are the typical clients that AFC serves?

AFC primarily supports clients with projects in late-stage clinical trials through to commercial manufacturing, as we are well known for our commercial launch capabilities and PAI readiness. That said, we certainly support earlier clinical phase candidates if they feature one of our core technologies, such as continuous processing, energetic chemistry, SMB chromatography, and high potency. With this in mind, we serve a wide range of companies from virtual pharma to large pharma and everywhere in between.

Could you elaborate on the innovative technologies AFC leverages to provide its array of services?

AFC is well known for its capabilities in energetic chemistry, and we continue to develop in this area. We expanded our dedicated safety laboratory to provide comprehensive data on the properties of critical materials we manufacture. This complements our flow chemistry and continuous processing capabilities, a space we have been operating in for several years. We continue to expand our capabilities in continuous reaction, continuous distillation, and continuous isolation. AFC is also a leader in simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography, which supports continuous purification of chiral materials. Additionally, our comprehensive capabilities at AMPAC Analytical support our industry’s quality requirements.

Where is the company investing in terms of its manufacturing capabilities?

We continue to invest into our manufacturing facilities to support the growing industry and the services our customers request. Over the past two years, AFC has seen tremendous interest in US-based manufacturing, with particular interest in our sites that produce critical medications. AFC is expanding its multi-purpose processing lines and complementary continuous processing equipment. This includes additional reactor capacity, drying capabilities, and solids handling capabilities. We are investing in these areas to better support our customers because we recognize that the molecules we manufacture are more complex from a chemistry perspective.

How does being part of a larger global organization impact AFC?

AFC is in a unique position, especially from our customers' perspective, in that we can support them from US soil. From this perspective, AFC is also in a unique position to supply the needs of the US government's essential medicines initiatives. That said, we are part of a larger parent company, SK pharmteco, which operates globally.

As more attention has been placed on understanding supply chains and how geopolitical interests may have an impact, SK pharmteco as a global parent company has the unique ability to leverage sites in Korea, Europe, and the US to reliably support our customers. Additionally, through our global preferred partners SK pharmteco mitigates supply chain risk as it relates to critical raw materials and intermediates assuring continuity of supply.

What will drive growth for AFC over the coming years?

AFC continues to grow at all locations to match increased demand for capacity and capability. Outside of our manufacturing capabilities, AFC is investing and featuring AMPAC Analytical given the growing demand for pharmaceutical testing services.