Specialist pharmaceutical storage company Q1 Scientific has expanded  its facility in Waterford to 15,000 sq ft after a third expansion from the initial 5,000 sq ft of space.

Q1 Scientific provides stability storage for the pharmaceutical industry. Stability storage is a regulatory requirement for pharmaceutical and life sciences firms carrying out R&D, and is also required for quality control. It involves placing samples for testing into storage at controlled temperatures for specified periods of time, and is used to establish shelf life.

The Waterford facility now has 30 walk-in stability chambers, 15 reach-in stability units and can provide storage from -80C up to +50C with full humidity control. The company has issued a time-lapse video of the construction project, below.

Chief executive Stephen Delaney said: “Q1 Scientific is revolutionising the way pharmaceutical companies store their products, helping to improve the speed it takes for drugs to reach the marketplace, along with saving pharma companies the expense of building and monitoring storage chambers. We were the first company in our sector to establish in Ireland and we are now global leaders in pharmaceutical storage services.

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“We very much become a seamless part of our client’s organisations and by doing so we enable them to focus further on their own particular areas of expertise and R&D. 

“Ireland is a major player in pharma, with all of the world’s 10 largest pharmaceutical companies operating here; this combined with having a significant track record in clinical and academic research too offers the optimum marketplace for our expertise and specialist services.”

Most of Q1’s clients are Irish-based pharma companies, but the firm also stores samples from firms in the UK, Norway, Germany and the US that manufacture products for the European market. The company says it will be hiring more staff this year to keep pace with its expansion.

Photo: Stephen Delaney and company founder Louise Grubb