“Translational Pharmaceutics, our flagship platform for drug development, empowers our clients with unparalleled flexibility”

Radio Compass

2024-12-16

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This week, SpeakPharma interviews Denise Sutton, Chief Operating Officer and Site Head at Quotient Sciences’ Nottingham facility in the UK. Quotient Sciences is a drug development and manufacturing accelerator that offers the innovative Translational Pharmaceutics platform to support customers in overcoming drug development challenges. Sutton has been with the company for over 25 years.

In this interview, she provides insights into the evolution of Quotient Sciences’ Nottingham facility and discusses how the organization has transformed from a small 10-bed clinic to a comprehensive drug development campus with six GMP suites. She also shares her perspective on the company’s unique approach to integrating drug development services.

HIGHLIGHTS// evolution of Quotient Sciences’ Nottingham facility/ unique approach to integrating drug development services

How has the Nottingham site transformed from when it was founded, to what it is today?

Initially, we were a small company with fewer than 50 employees, a 10-bed clinic, and a single lab. Over 90 percent of our work focused on gamma scintigraphic imaging (a diagnostic test that creates images of the body’s internal organs and tissues using gamma rays). Due to the short half-life radionuclides we used to label dosage forms, every product we manufactured had a limited time to be dosed.

At the end of 1999, we moved our headquarters to a purpose-built, two-storey facility—now known as Trent House on our now much larger Nottingham campus. We built three good manufacturing practice (GMP) suites on the top floor and three clinical wards on the bottom floor. These were very early days that marked the start of our Translational Pharmaceutics platform.

We continued to expand the range of scintigraphy applications we offered in response to changing customer requirements until, in 2008, when we approached the MHRA (UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) with a new request. We asked if it might be possible to work at the same pace as we did in our scintigraphic imaging studies, but do so for conventional drug development, without the radiolabel.

We explored the application of ICH Q8 Quality by Design (QbD) guidelines to introduce a compositional design space into the CMC section of our regulatory dossier. This officially created a methodology for applying the Translational Pharmaceutics platform, and we haven't looked back since.

Today, we have expanded substantially. Our Nottingham site is a campus of five buildings. We have development and analytical labs, six GMP suites, six clinical wards with a total of 85 beds (where we conduct healthy volunteer phase 1 clinical studies), and many talented colleagues covering our spectrum of CRO and CDMO services.

HIGHLIGHTS// officially created a methodology for applying the Translational Pharmaceutics platform/ development and analytical labs/ six GMP suites

How is Translational Pharmaceutics applied to drug development programs?

We apply Translational Pharmaceutics across three core applications: first-in-human clinical studies, drug product optimization programs through rapid formulation development and clinical testing, and as a part of human ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) programs.

No matter how a client chooses to work with us to apply Translational Pharmaceutics, the benefits of using a single organization and project management team to integrate services lets our clients remain in control and one step ahead of the emerging data that impacts the success of their molecule.

Over all these years, our flagship Translational Pharmaceutics platform for drug development has remained unchanged in the way it empowers our customers and offers them unparalleled flexibility.

HIGHLIGHTS// three core applications/ benefits of using a single organization/ clients remain in control

What would you say are the key strengths of Quotient Sciences’ Nottingham site? How do you support customer programs?

Nowhere else would a single project manager oversee such a broad spectrum of activities, let alone be expected to ensure seamless, timely progression across functions that in any other company (i.e. at other CDMOs or CROs) would be delivered through multiple operating areas or through the use of a combination of third-party vendors.

The project managers do face challenges. But by working with the project team, they are able to anticipate, avoid, and mitigate any impact whenever necessary. We know that time is incredibly valuable for our customers. A project Gantt chart is our project management team’s guiding light. I believe our project management team is truly world-leading – they communicate well, show great compassion, and lead with integrity.

I’m super proud of our high-performing, supportive, cross-functional teams that support our customers when they trust their molecules to us, and work collaboratively to deliver the best possible service. After 25 years at Quotient, I continue to really enjoy going to work. I am indebted to various colleagues for helping me continue to feel this way.

HIGHLIGHTS// project management team is truly world-leading/ high-performing, supportive, cross-functional teams/ 25 years at Quotient

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How has the Nottingham site transformed from when it was founded, to what it is today?

How is Translational Pharmaceutics applied to drug development programs?

What would you say are the key strengths of Quotient Sciences’ Nottingham site? How do you support customer programs?