India-based Piramal Pharma Limited's Pharma Solutions business announced on Tuesday that it has started operations at a new production block at the firm's drug product site in Pithampur, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.

The new production area is called V Block and can manage batch sizes of 150 to 600 kilograms, supplementing the site's capacity to produce oral solid dosage form drug product. The Pithampur site's total production capacity increases from three billion doses to 4.5 billion doses with the addition of the new production block.

V Block includes aqueous and non-aqueous wet granulation (high shear, top spray and bottom spray); direct, mono, and bilayer compression; aqueous and non-aqueous coating; and bottle packaging technologies. Aggregation capabilities related to US FDA e-pedigree and track and trace requirements are proposed for V Block, as is the addition of dry granulation capabilities (roller compaction). The new production block offers dedicated personnel and material entry with biometric access control for the block and the operating cubicles within it, and an air handling unit for each cubicle.