UPM Pharmaceuticals announced it is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of pharmaceutical manufacturing occurring at its Bristol, Tennessee facility. Pharmaceutical products have been continuously manufactured at its current site since 1917.
UPM Pharmaceuticals' Bristol, Tennessee facility.
In March 1917, S.E. Massengill purchased the site and transformed it into a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. In 1971 the site became home to Beecham Laboratories North American Headquarters. King Pharmaceuticals acquired the site in 1993. The site was sold to Pfizer in 2011, and in July of 2013 UPM Pharmaceuticals purchased the facility from Pfizer.
The facility has expanded from a small facility footprint of less than 10,000 square feet and only two small buildings, to a modern campus of over 475,000 square feet and additional warehouse and distribution space of almost 250,000 square feet.
"We are proud of the legacy of the Bristol, Tennessee site in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. The success of the products and the growth of the capabilities of the site stand as testimony to the many outstanding employees who have worked here over the past century,” James E. Gregory, CEO of UPM said.
UPM Pharmaceuticals originated as a drug formulation and cGMP laboratory within the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. The company offers capabilities from early research and development to clinical trial material manufacturing and commercial scale product supply. It is also DEA approved to handle CII-CV manufacturing. The Bristol site has several low humidity manufacturing suites and the ability to handle potent compounds in dedicated suites.
"We remain vigilant in our commitment to our history, our entrepreneurial passion, family values and a strong quality and compliance culture. Our last FDA audit was in October of 2016,” James E. Gregory said. “It was a general GMP inspection of all systems and a preapproval inspection of a product that our R&D team developed. No 483's were issued and approval of the site to manufacture the product was recommended. Obviously, we were quite proud of this result. We also have yearly DEA Inspections given our capabilities to handle controlled substance products and have had no notice of violations or 'for cause' investigations. UPM is fully committed to quality and manufacturing innovations to assure the timely supply of needed medicines."