METRICS
INC. ANNOUNCES $17.5-MILLION FACILITY EXPANSION
Expansion to fuel 45-percent increase in staff;
new manufacturing and lab capabilities
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Metrics Inc., a contract pharmaceutical company headquartered in Greenville, announced Monday that it is undertaking a $17.5-million facility expansion.
The new 47,000-square-foot
expansion, expected to be completed by June, will
allow the company to hire 77 new employees – amounting to a 45-percent
increase in staff – and dramatically
supplement the company’s clinical batch manufacturing
and commercial production capabilities over the next
three years.
“We are extremely excited about this expansion, which represents an enormous
milestone for Metrics,” said Phil Hodges, CEO. “We have been
working at capacity for some time. This new facility will allow us to not only
expand current services, but also offer larger-scale clinical batch manufacture
and commercial production.”
The announcement was made Monday at a special event attended by N.C. Governor Mike Easley, who said Metrics’ growth further strengthens the state’s standing as being among the top three in the nation for biotechnology.
The expanded facility will contain more analytical labs, an expanded microbiology lab, additional stability storage capabilities, nearly 9,000 square feet of warehouse space and 17,000 square feet of pharmaceutical manufacturing space geared toward larger-scale clinical batch manufacture and commercial production.
Of the $17.5-million price tag, $12 million is earmarked for construction. The other $5.5 million will go toward machinery and equipment. Metrics now employs over 170 employees.
Metrics provides pre-formulation studies, formulation development, clinical trial batch manufacturing and clinical trial and stability batch packaging and labeling for non-sterile dosage forms.
In addition, Metrics specializes in analytical methods development and validation with particular expertise in stability-indicating high performance liquid chromatography methods.
Metrics also offers comprehensive
stability storage and testing programs with a variety
of storage chambers designed to meet International
Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Other formulations
services include tableting; capsule filling; over-encapsulation;
milling; micronizing; enteric, SR and IR film coating;
ointments, creams and liquid formulations; and sustained-release
formulations.
The firm serves pharmaceutical companies throughout
the United States and provides a broad spectrum of
services to support investigational new drug, new
drug application and abbreviated new drug application
submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Since its start in 1994 with four employees, Metrics has experienced double-digit annual revenue growth. The company currently occupies a state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) facility registered with the FDA.
“Since our humble beginning 12 years ago, the high quality of our customer service is what has differentiated us from our competitors,” Hodges said. “With this expansion, we hope to provide even more to our clients through expanded capability and services, which can only help strengthen that loyalty that everyone at Metrics values so much.”
For more information about Metrics Inc. and its services, visit its Web site at www.metricsinc.com, or call 252-752-3800.
