The plant, which has a surface area of 400m2, will serve both Sylentis' manufacturing needs and those of other pharmaceutical companies.
Sylentis, a wholly owned subsidiary of PharmaMar (MSE:PHM), today inaugurated the first plant in Spain and the third in Europe for the manufacture of oligonucleotides approved under GMP (Good Manufacture Practice) standards at the Madrid Technology Park in Tres Cantos. Oligonucleotides are short chains of DNA or RNA that are manufactured by chemical synthesis and are the active ingredient of a new class of drugs.
This plant is already functioning to meet the needs of both tivanisiran and SYL1801. These products, owned by Sylentis, are based on RNA interference technology. Tivanisiran is currently being evaluated in two Phase III studies for the treatment of dry eye disease and SYL1801, for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
This plant, a pioneer in Spain, plans to provide services to other pharmaceutical companies that require the manufacturing and analysis of oligonucleotides.
Currently, the demand for drugs based on RNA technologies is increasing and in Spain this need has not been met internally, depending instead on other countries.
"This first plant in Spain is a milestone, not only for Sylentis, but also for the pharmaceutical industry in our country, as it will have the capacity to produce this type of next-generation pharmaceuticals, with the aim of making them available to patients to cover their therapeutic needs that have not been met so far,"
said Ana Isabel Jiménez, Director of Executive Operations and R&D at Sylentis.
The inauguration was attended by Cristobal Belda Iniesta, General Manager of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Ana Isabel Cremades Rodríguez, General Manager of Research and Innovation and Technology of the Community of Madrid; Jesús Moreno García, Mayor of Tres Cantos; Ion Arocena, General Manager of ASEBIO, accompanied by José María Fernández, President of PharmaMar; Luis Mora, Managing Director of the PharmaMar’s Oncology and Virology Business Units and Ana Isabel Jiménez, Director of Executive Operations and R&D at Sylentis.