West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. is adding manufacturing capacity for the Daikyo Crystal Zenith 1mL syringe system for biopharmaceutical drug packaging and delivery. According to the company, the syringe system overcomes problems inherent in glass-based systems, such as breakage and glass delamination.

West will add clean room manufacturing environments at its Scottsdale, AZ, facility, capable of producing as many as 20 million units annually. The facility will also handle the warehousing and release of other ready-to-use Crystal Zenith systems, such as vials and bulk drug containers. The company is converting 32,000 sq.-ft. of existing space to include ISO 7 (Class 10,000) clean rooms for automated manufacturing, microbiological and functional testing labs, and additional climate controlled and monitored warehouse space. Completion is scheduled for 4Q11.

“We found a high level of interest in the Crystal Zenith insert needle syringe system during its formal launch at a customer open house in Scottsdale last October,” said Donald E. Morel, Jr., Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer. “The renovation project will give us the space for additional sophisticated injection molding technologies required for manufacturing Crystal Zenith syringes. These will be needed to support numerous customer stability trials and anticipated scale-up as customers realize the significant benefits of this system.”