MedPharm, a Guildford, England-headquartered provider of formulation and development services for topical and transdermal products, has invested $75 million on automated instrumentation for its US facilities based in Durham, North Carolina.

The investment covers the company’s purchase of the Hamilton Vantage robot for sample handling, a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry instrument (UPLC-MS/MS) and a UHPLC with both UV-VIS and fluorescence detectors. In addition, the US site has also expanded its workforce to over 20 scientists and support staff.

The new Hamilton Vantage robot is expected to reduce testing variation as well as increase throughput. The UPLC-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer system from Waters is the third LC-MS/MS to be installed in the MedPharm US.