BLUE BELL, PA — IPS-Integrated Project Services, LLC is saluting Nexus Pharmaceuticals LLC for receiving a Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) from The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE). IPS has been a partner in the success of the “Project Tomorrow” sterile injectables facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The IPS team of experts provided a range of services for the project, including architecture, engineering, process design, and construction management support.
The ISPE FOYA program recognizes state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities utilizing innovative design and construction strategies to produce high-quality, safe, cost-effective medicines. The FOYA judges found the design and technology included in Project Tomorrow “impressive and in line with current industry standards. However, delivering these capabilities as a small generic company, with a keen eye on continued expansion, showcases their mission in action and really makes this project special.”
The facility was a dream that started in the living room of Mariam S. Darsot, Nexus Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors. Mariam sought to efficiently and cost-effectively produce safe, injectable drugs for Americans who are facing critically short drug supply. From her living room to reality, the design allows for physically expanding operations in stages for the next ten years.
“We are eternally grateful to our wonderful team and our partners at IPS that made this possible,” stated Usman Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer and President at Nexus Pharmaceuticals. “This recognition is a testament to our dedication to bring state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the United States and we are honored to be recognized by this award.”
IPS designed Project Tomorrow using design concepts that provide additional efficiency that has not been seen before in pharmaceutical manufacturing. This multiuse facility is a major milestone for supplementing Nexus’ aseptic fill/finish capacity. It features both the application of state-of-the-art process technologies as well as an aesthetically-focused facility concept. It is designed as an innovative, flexible, easily expandable, efficient, and forward-looking facility to reduce drug shortages in the US.
The process design focused on efficiently using space, materials, and utilities with efficiency and quality in mind. The main manufacturing space is designed in the form of a “cube” central to the entire building. The cube-like dimensions of the facility minimize roof space, piping, and ductwork lengths, while also improving the workflow of the manufacturing floor. By placing utilities beneath the manufacturing floor and air handling above it, the building avoids much of the waste generated in the transfer of utilities. Each of the two manufacturing bays currently within the facility allows Nexus to quickly switch runs or “campaigns” of products, enabling quick reactions to real-world drug shortages with “recipe-driven manufacturing.”
The facility had to be easily expandable and was designed with future construction phases in mind so that expansion could occur with minimal impact on the facility once in operation. IPS designed the facility to grow additional manufacturing lines, utilizing a clever architectural and structural design that allows future phases of the project to expand westward – adding new space to the facility without interrupting or otherwise compromising production. The current construction features two aseptic filling lines, packaging, sampling and dispensing, and clean and dirty utilities. A quality control and microbiology lab were also integrated into the design as well as storage for DEA-regulated products and reagents, refrigerated storage, and limited solvent use.
“I am so excited for the entire Nexus Team and honored that they chose IPS as the major partner. It is an amazing accomplishment for them. I know they will use this facility to do great things for patient care in this sector,” said Ed Flagg, IPS Project Director for the Nexus Project.
“Being one of the first and largest international specialist firms in pharmaceutical architecture, engineering, construction, and CGMP compliance, IPS gets to work with all kinds of companies around the world,” said Tom Piombino, Managing Director, Americas of IPS. “Sometimes, when you really get to know a company at its heart, you find that they are a group of ambitious people with a strong vision who know what they excel at that want to do something good in the world. For us, this was Nexus, a family business with the grit to target and deliver hard-to-get medicinal products. They welcomed our team into their vision and family on Project Tomorrow, and for that, we are both grateful and happy to see this project be honored by the FOYA Committee.”
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