The University of Strathclyde’s Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation Centre (CMAC) is a world-class international hub for manufacturing research and training. Working in partnership with industry, its purpose is to transform current manufacturing processes into the medicine supply chain of the future.

The Centre uses revolutionary manufacturing techniques developed to speed up the process of bringing new drugs to market, and help make precision medicine an economically viable reality.

The centre, in collaboration with partners including Graz and Nanyang Technological University, provides CMAC with an industrial base in the local region, and demonstrates how international research partnerships can be harnessed for local economic impact.

CMAC
  • conducts world class research in continuous manufacturing and advanced crystallisation;
  • conducts fundamental research;
  • develops new solutions to company specific problems;
  • delivers measurable successes that are of real benefit to society;
  • creates commercial opportunities for start-ups and major global companies;
  • produces a talent pipeline of highly skilled multi-disciplinary staff;
  • influences policy, government, and regulators;
  • understands and integrates with the broader supply chain context
  • collaborates with world class business and academia on an international basis.
Research Quality and Intensity

CMAC’s leading Manufacturing Research Hub programme is funded by the EPSRC with the University of Strathclyde leading a multidisciplinary, collaborative academic team at the universities of Bath, Cambridge, Imperial, Leeds, Loughborough and Sheffield.

Research with impact has grown through new projects supported by EPSRC, InnovateUK, EU and industry. These include two recent digitalisation-focused programmes: the Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Medicines Manufacturing Research Centre (DM2) and the Digital Design and Manufacture of Amorphous Pharmaceuticals (DDMAP) project. DDMAP also supports new international partnerships with the Universities of Ghent and Copenhagen.

CMAC is also a founding member of the International Institute of Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (I2APM,) with partners C-SOPS (US) and RCPE (Austria). As part of the critical regulatory agenda, CMAC organises a biennial conference with the FDA, alongside MIT.

World-Class Facilities

The £34M UK-RPIF scheme partnership established a world-class facility equipped with a comprehensive suite of continuous processing, process analysis, and characterisation equipment. The physical hub is within the Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) at Strathclyde. This provides an open access approach across the academic and industrial community.

In 2016, TIC received an honourable mention in the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Facility of the Year award, and the facility was shortlisted in 2018, for CPhI’s Excellence in Pharma Awards.

Outstanding Training and Skills Development

Training the next generation of scientists and engineers is vital to accelerating the adoption of advanced manufacturing and digital technologies. CMAC offers vibrant and innovative training programmes uniquely placed to address the interdisciplinary challenges facing pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The postgraduate and early career programmes are delivering the next generation of highly skilled researchers and the future workforce that will drive the transformation of continuous manufacturing. CMAC also has a unique Doctoral Training programme, which operates across the partner universities and in informed by the needs of industry partners. A Master’s programme in Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing is delivered at Strathclyde and there are a number of Early Career Researcher and Continuous Professional Development programmes on offer.

Exemplary Translation to Industry

CMAC benefits from strong industry engagement and leadership. An industry led membership organisation was created in 2011. The organisation operates under a pre-competitive, collaborative research and development model with senior level company support. The main industry partners (AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Takeda, and UCB) get an individual seat on the CMAC Board and an opportunity to influence the direction of future research and Hub activity. Integral to the CMAC ecosystem are the Tier 2 technology companies, ranging from large companies, like Siemens and PwC, to micro SMEs. The supportive environment helps translate research into equipment and products. The Hub organises many open events for the broader industry landscape and collaborates with a wide range of additional companies locally, nationally and globally.

Get In Touch

If you would like to reach out to discuss anything from the above case study, please get in touch.

Let us know if you would like to discuss contributing to the case studies we currently profile.