Aussie company manages to keep manufacturing at local level

going global, burgeoning sales of the acute pain killer Penthrox (commonly known as ‘the green whistle’) have led to the creation of 26 jobs and counting at Australian healthcare company Medical Developments International (MDI), as well as the launch of a new facility in Scoresby, Melbourne.

The more than 1000m2 set-up incorporates R&D and Quality Control labs meaning MDI can now do the entire mf process in-house, manufacturing, filling and packaging the entire Penthrox range on site. Previously a third party was responsible for QC.

The building of a local state- of-theart facility was made possible with the assistance of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and MDI will continue to work with the national body within its R&D section, which has been set up to develop future manufacturing processes and support existing processes. Assisted by CSIRO, MDI has seen its market value rise from less than AUD10 million dollars in March 2010, to around AUD290 million now.

The factory has been designed with expansion options in place. There is the potential to increase the facility by five times its current size in order to support MDI’s next 5-10 years of growth. MDI’s CEO, John Sharman said the new manufacturing facility was built to keep up with global demand for the product, as MDI is the only company in the world making Penthrox, which offers a safe, simple to use, non-narcotic, non-addictive alternative for acute pain management, fitting a significant market need globally.

“Penthrox has now been approved for sale in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France and Belgium. We’re expecting to enter another 37 markets over the next two years, including Germany, Spain and Italy, and commence the product approval process in the USA”, Mr Sharman said.

Dr Paul Savage, CSIRO Biomedical Research Director, said that as the Australian manufacturing industry transitions from high volume commodity products to innovation-driven high-value exports, it is companies like Medical Developments International that are leading the way.