Livingston, United Kingdom, 27th April 2009

Encap Drug Delivery, the global provider of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services, marks its 20-year anniversary this month. The longevity and continued growth of the company is a tribute to the Senior Management Team and the 50 staff who work at the company's facility in Livingston, UK.

Encap was established in 1989 to exploit an emerging new oral drug delivery technology - liquid and semi-solid filling of two-piece hard capsules (LFHCs). The company has grown organically and steadily over the years and is now the largest independent commercial manufacturer of LFHCs to the pharmaceutical industry. To date over 20 licensed pharmaceutical products have been manufactured by Encap.

The LFHC technology has now established a position in the industry as dosage form to be considered for compounds with low solubility or bioavailability issues, through the use of self-emulsifying lipidic systems, solid solutions and solid suspensions. The technology also lends itself well to molecules which are moisture or oxygen sensitive, highly potent actives which can be prone to homogeneity issues and anti-cancer agents which require rigorous "high containment" safe handling practices.

Encap moved to new facilities in 2005 and underwent a further £3million expansion in 2008 including a new high containment manufacturing suite.  The facility was also successfully audited by the FDA in 2008.

"Encap now has the capability to manufacture for worldwide markets.  The new facility has been specifically designed to offer maximum flexibility to clients; from bench to commercial scale and the capability to handle multiple products requiring large volume manufacturing (100 to 500 million units per year).  This moves Encap from the position of a regional provider to a manufacturing facility which can be used with confidence by large Pharma and Biotech companies for the commercialisation and launch of global products", said Encap's Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Stephen Brown.

Alongside the Commercial Manufacturing business, Encap has established a well respected Development Services organisation. This has historically been focused on the company's core liquid and semi-solid filling technology. The company is widely acknowledged as the world leader in this area and provides clients with fully integrated analytical and formulation development services and clinical trial manufacturing. The company has worked with about 100 Development clients over its 20 year history and a significant number of clients have remained regular customers for many years.

"We congratulate all those who have worked here over the past 20 years, both our dedicated staff and our faithful clients alike.  I am confident that in the future months and years Encap will continue to develop and add further specialist oral drug delivery technologies to the portfolio of services we can offer to clients", added Dr. Brown.