Vindon Healthcare
Vindon Healthcare plc is a British-based company engaged in the manufacture of environmental control products for the pharmaceutical industry, life sciences and food sectors, providing products and services for the management of temperature, humidity and light, where controlled storage is required.
History
The company was established in 1967 by Jack Roylance, Vincent Beddoes and Donald Smith. The original product range was limited to refrigeration units, simple laboratory ovens, microbiological incubators and water baths. Vincent Beddoes left in 1968 and Alan Roylance, son of Jack Roylance, joined in 1977. Alan purchased Donald Smith's shareholding in 1983. Donald Smith retired in 1994 and Jack Roylance retired in 1996. Jack Roylance gifted his 50% shareholding to Alan during 2002. Alan was Managing Director from 1990 until selling the company to Zeus Capital for an undisclosed sum in 2004.
On 28 February 2005, Didsbury ProgresS plc acquired the entire issued share capital of Vindon Scientific Limited. On 15 March 2005 the company changed its name from Didsbury Progress plc to Vindon Healthcare plc.
Liam Ferguson was made chairman and appointed Patrick Jackson as business development director, Martin Burrill as finance director and Ian Gordon as operations director.
In April 2005, the company was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
In October 2007, Vindon opened a stability storage facility in Tramore, County Waterford, commenced storage in the UK of biological and tissue material at ultra-low temperatures and established operational capability in the United States of America.
In August 2008 the company moved into its new, purpose built premises on Kingsway Business Park, Rochdale, Lancashire.
2009 saw Vindon apply their expertise and experience to cryogenic storage services. Vindon's Cryobank provides storage for the preservation of stem cells, cord stem cells, DNA and bone marrow at temperatures ranging from -150 °C down to -196 °C.
Vindon's ability to control temperature and humidity was then applied to the heritage market providing storage services to the British Library of Film Archives.
Operations
Vindon Healthcare plc, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the manufacture of environmental control products for the pharmaceutical industry, life sciences and food sectors together with the provision of related services. The Company provides products and services for the management of temperature, humidity and light, where controlled storage is required. Its product range includes controlled environment rooms and storage chambers, blood bank storage units and plant growth chambers. Vindon Healthcare also offers controlled environment storage facilities for customers at its purpose-built premises in Rochdale and its Ireland facility in Tramore, Co Waterford. Its subsidiary, Vindon Scientific, is in the field of controlled environmental rooms and chambers.
Customers
Vindon's customer base largely comprises major blue chip international companies. The majority of these are in the pharmaceutical industry and have been clients of Vindon for many years. Typically these customers use CERs through the research and development processes that are involved in the development of new drugs and medicines. The company's products are also purchased by businesses in other sectors that require environmental control systems to ensure constant temperature, light and humidity or a combination of these on particular materials or liquids.
Products
Products offered by Vindon include:
- Blood storage and transportation
- Data loggers and chart recorders
- Environmental rooms and cabinets
- Incubators and refrigerated incubators
- Laboratory fridges and freezers
- Ovens
- Stability storage rooms and cabinets
More detailed information on the key aspects of some of these products follows:
Blood storage and transportation Comprises blood banks, plasma freezers and Transtherm blood transportation boxes.
Environmental rooms and cabinets Comprise salts-type humidity cabinets, injection-type humidity cabinets, plant growth cabinets and textile conditioning cabinets.
Stability storage rooms and cabinets Comprises standard and customised environmental cabinets, reach–in rooms, and walk–in rooms, designed for use in the pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare industries.
Incubators Comprises cooled and standard incubators in sizes from bench top to floor standing
Services
Disaster recovery management Sentinel Disaster Recovery is a disaster recovery plan designed to ensure customers' trials can continue in the event of a catastrophic incident. This scheme allows for any amount of product to be placed in stability storage suites, to be called off as required. It can prevent the loss of potentially millions of pounds, as well as the embarrassment of delay in bringing vital products to market. If a trial ends prematurely, or in the event of an emergency, back-up stocks can be quickly retrieved from store.
Heritage and conservation storage Heritage may be anything from a major collection or building of international importance managed by a national institution, to a single item cared for by a member of the public. Examples might include: a rare book in a public library; the contents and architectural features of an historic house; the vast collections of records in the National Archive; a statue on a village green; a treasured photograph of a your great-great grandmother, or the stained glass and memorial inscriptions in a place of worship, films, books, instruments etc. Many cultural works are sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and exposure to light and ultraviolet light. They must be protected in a controlled environment where such variables are maintained within a range of damage-limiting levels. Shielding from sunlight of artifacts such as water colour paintings for example is usually necessary to prevent fading of pigments. Preventive conservation is an important element of museum policy and collections care. It is an essential responsibility of members of the museum profession to create and maintain a protective environment for the collections in their care, whether in store, on display, or in transit. A museum should carefully monitor the condition of collections to determine when an artifact requires conservation work and the services of a qualified conservator. Vindon's heritage conservation storage facility provides stable temperature and humidity. Keeping future deterioration to a minimum, Vindon's heritage storage service preserves the integrity, both historic and artistic, of artefacts, original materials and film archives. Simple actions for owners to prevent and reduce deterioration • Store photographs in a cool environment as this will help to slow deterioration. • Avoid very damp or dry conditions, and particularly fluctuations between the two. Aim for a stable environment and if possible, a relative humidity within the range 30-40%. • Avoid displaying photographs at high light levels or for extended periods of time. Ulatrviolet filtering glazing helps protect photographs during light exposure. • Heep handling to a minimum and avoid touching the image later. Make sure your hands are clean and dry or wear cotton gloves, and handle photographs by the edges, using a support such as a sheet of stiff paper or card to move fragile photographs. • Keep and display photographs in good quality storage and framing materials. Most photographs can be safely kept in paper enclosures; some can also be safely stored in some types of plastic enclosures. However, plastic is not suitable for hand-coloured prints, prints with surface damage, glass or metal-based photographs, nor for film-based negatives and transparencies from the 1950s, unless the latter are in cold storage.
Vindon's Inventory Management Software (VIMS) provides a comprehensive management tool for storage room operations for all special collections.
As Vindon improves controlled environment storage technologies, dedicated storage at bespoke conditions is becoming more accessible for the long-term storage and preservation of historical artefacts and heritage collections. Our cultural heritage is an irreplaceable and treasured resource. Whatever the collection, from fabrics to furs, paintings to stained glass, or antiques to film archives, prevention of decay and deterioration plays a crucial role in the care of these items.
Controlled conditions Fluctuating temperature and humidity levels are damaging to most materials. Vindon can minimise the risk of damage and deterioration by storing collections in the optimum environment, reducing the need for interventive measures in the future. Stored items could include:
- Acetate film
- Archaeological artefacts
- Books
- Catalogue material
- Costumes
- Documents
- Drawings
- Engravings
- Film archives
- Fine art, paintings and artworks
- Furs and leathers
- Historical records
- Manuscripts
- Microfilm
- Musical instruments
- Nitrate film
- Old toys
- Photographs
- Polyester film
- Special collections
- Videos
Preventive conservation storage Built on site by in-house engineers, Vindon's heritage storage suites provide dust-free storage at a wide range of temperatures and humidities for the long term care of collections. They are particularly well suited to the storage of special collections, historic artefacts and vulnerable film-based media, including Cellulose acetate film and Nitrate film.
By storing acetate film not yet degrading, at a temperature of 5 °C with relative humidity (RH) of 35%, Vindon have increased the length of time it takes for free acidity to develop. The preservation index (PI) is increased from 80 years to 350 years. By storing degrading acetate film in these conditions will change the PI from 10 years to approximately 200 years. By storing non acetate, including polyester, the PI will increase from 63 years to 488 years.
Stability storage Stability Storage for Bulk Pharmaceutical Chemicals
Pharmaceutical products are manufactured using bulk pharmaceutical chemicals and as such manufacturers of inactive ingredients have to comply with GMP guidelines.
Although the GMP regulations apply only to finished dosage form drugs, the Federal Food, [...], and Cosmetic Act requires that all drugs be manufactured, processed, packed, and held in accordance with current good manufacturing practice. No distinction is made between bulk pharmaceutical chemicals and finished pharmaceuticals and failure of either to comply with cGMP constitutes a failure to comply with the requirements of the Act.
During the development phase of a medicinal product and following the manufacturing of the pharmaceutical product, the stability of the chemical constituents should be analysed according to a stability study programme that will reveal any stability issues
Undetected changes in raw materials specifications, or subtle changes in manufacturing procedures, may affect the stability of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals. As drugs and related products undergo stability testing programmes it is reasonable to assume that such programmes should also be put in place for bulk pharmaceutical chemicals.
Stability samples should be stored in containers that are very similar to the packaged finished products as they would appear on the shelf. It is also recommended by the FDA that additional samples be stored under stressful conditions (e.g., elevated temperature, light, humidity or freezing) if such conditions can be reasonably anticipated.
Vindon offers a complete range of World Climatic ICH conditions for the stability storage of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals. There is also complete flexibility within Vindon to set up chambers with other environments to meet specific client requirements. Vindon's stability storage suite has more than 2.0 million cubic litres of environmentally controlled storage space. A complete range of world climatic ICH zone II conditions is provided. Customers can undertake long-term stability testing, accelerated testing, comparative stability testing, forced long-term stability testing and stability of active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as shelf life and stability storage trials. Facilities also include refrigerated cabinets, photostability cabinets, plant growth cabinets, plasma freezers. Chambers are available for freeze or thaw and storage of quarantine samples. Spark-proof chambers are available for aerosols and volatile substances. ..
Ambient, moderate and temperate storage from 60 °C TO -2 °C With walk-in rooms and chambers simulating all of the ICH world climatic zone temperatures for long term, intermediate and accelerated testing, Vindon can provide ambient temperature and stability storage whatever the size of product. Environmentally controlled rooms in the stability storage suite are dedicated to the storage of pharmaceutical products, clinical trial material, solvents, dry powder inhalers (DPIs), pressurised metered dose inhalers (PMDIs), nasal sprays, nebulisers, tablets and capsules, as well as bulk pharmaceutical chemicals.
Low temperature storage from -2 °C TO -60 °C Low temperature secure storage facilities are ideal for high value goods and perishables, from art and antiques to nitrate film, food products, pharmaceuticals and toxins. By increasing or decreasing relative humidity, the ideal storage environment can be created for any artefact or sample. Storage rooms can easily be adapted to operate at any condition, meet rigorous temperature and humidity control requirements and incorporate outstanding security and safety features.
Ultra-low temperature storage from -60 °C TO -86 °C The ultra-low temperature storage facility is tailored to the needs of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. A comprehensive storage solution for the long-term preservation of biologics, reagents, and specimens at temperatures down to -86 °C, this facility is capable of storing millions of samples, vials or tube racks.
Cryogenic and vapour phase nitrogen from -150 °C TO -196 °C Stem cells - often referred to as 'the miracle cell' - have already taught a great deal to the scientific community. Today it's accepted that future advances in research will offer the potential for therapeutic treatments of many medical conditions, from Parkinson's disease to spinal cord injuries. But key to this technology is the efficient storage of these unique building blocks of life for the ultimate benefit of future generations.
Stem cell basics Stem cells are found in most, if not all, multi-cellular living organisms. They differ from other kinds of cells in the body in that they are all capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. Being non-dedicated and with the ability to differentiate, they can become an ongoing source of cells that make up critical tissues and organs. There are two broad categories of stem cells - adult stem cells (also known as somatic stem cells) and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells are now routinely used to treat life-threatening conditions, as well as contributing to new regenerative therapies that can be used in research for the development of new drugs.
Medical researchers believe that stem cell therapy has the potential to dramatically change the treatment of human disease. A number of adult stem cell therapies already exist. This is a market that is very much in its infancy but there is little doubt that stem cell storage will be the norm in years to come, not just in the private sector but also in the NHS and public arenas.
Stem cells are fundamental for developing embryos in the womb. They evolve and transform into the different types of cells that are needed to make up the human child, forming the basis of organs like heart muscles and skin tissues, as well as red blood cells.
Stem cells can be sourced from the bone marrow itself, peripheral blood and, most recently, umbilical cord blood. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood (hematopoietic stem cells) have to date been used to repair bone marrow in over 2,000 patients. New sources of stem cells from adipose tissue (fat), children’s milk teeth and even hair, are regularly being identified and stored under cryogenic conditions. This usually involves temperatures from minus 160°C to minus 190°C, using special tanks containing liquid nitrogen.
By storing stem cells taken from a baby’s umbilical cord, it's now possible for parents to insure their child’s future health against diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and blood disorders. What a fantastic gift for a newborn child!
Cord blood successes The first cord blood transplant was performed in 1988 to treat a five year- old patient with Franconia’s Anaemia, a fatal blood disorder. Since that first successful transplant, more than 10,000 further cord blood transplants have been carried out to treat a wide variety of diseases.
In the USA, cord blood has become the most frequent source of stem cells for transplantation in children. Along with ongoing research to improve the use of cord blood in stem cell transplants, a significant amount of research is being conducted to explore the application of cord blood in the field of regenerative medicine. Currently, there are ongoing clinical studies investigating the value of cord blood in the treatment of brain injury, cerebral palsy, type 1 diabetes, heart disease and critical limb ischemic.
Umbilical cord cell transplantation has progressed from being an experimental procedure to an accepted treatment for a number of haematological diseases and genetic disorders. Today, stem cells are being used to treat over a hundred diseases, with many more likely to be developed in the future. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood now form one of the most commonly banked types of human tissue.
Cord blood stem cells can be stored in bags or vials, or the whole blood sample can be stored. Quality assurance standards are also crucial. This is particularly relevant given that cord blood stem cells are likely to play such an important part in cellular therapies in the future.
In fact it's estimated that, by the year 2015, there will be up to 10,000 cord blood transplants worldwide per year, using banked cord blood. It is therefore vitally important to build repositories for the storage of cells to guarantee continued successes in this exciting arena.
Outsourcing safe storage There is one outsourcing area that, because of its relative infancy, can be quite a challenge - cryogenics. The current economic climate is causing many managers to closely examine the feasibility of developing in-house cryogenic facilities. Costs can be prohibitive as capital expenditure budgets become more difficult to generate, cash flow gets tighter and energy costs escalate.
Finding the right storage partner means that there's no need for large capital outlay on cryogenic freezers, liquid nitrogen vessels, control systems and costly laboratory space. It also eliminates the need to regularly service and calibrate equipment as well as having staff on constant call-out duties.
Vindon is a company that's actively involved in developing facilities to assist in ultra-low temperature storage down to minus 197°C. The storage of cells at temperatures below minus 150°C, the point at which biological activity ceases, is necessary to preserve materials unaltered. Liquid nitrogen is the most logical choice for storage at temperatures below minus 130°C, but there are risks associated with its use. To ensure there can be no cross-contamination with the stored samples, it's generally recommended that materials are accommodated in the vapour phase above the actual nitrogen, where temperatures are in the region of minus 150°C down to minus 197°C.
Industry experts believe that the use of dry-store freezers, specifically designed as vapour phase storage systems, offer exceptional sample security. A slight positive pressure in the sample chamber will circulate out any pathogens. Operator safety is ensured because the storage area is completely free of liquid nitrogen, which is housed in a jacket surrounding the chamber. Temperature performance to minus 190 °C can be achieved, well below the level required to keep materials in first-class condition.
Vindon's Cryobank, a secure storage facility for the preservation of biological samples, bone marrow, cord stem cells, DNA, stem cells and tissue samples at temperatures down to 196 °C. The service provides coordination and distribution of samples from specialist laboratories, hospitals and NHS trusts. The facility incorporates 24-hour security and is protected from power failures by a back-up generator and gravity fed liquid nitrogen tank. Every DryStore Cryopreservation Unit has a wired and wireless back-up alarm warning system and an emergency back-up freezer is maintained on-site. All safety issues are in strict accordance with the latest regulations to offer a first class biological storage facility..
Validation BS5750 part 1 registration was gained in 1991. This was converted to full ISO9001 in November 1994. The initial scope of registration was 'The design, manufacture, selling and servicing of controlled environment laboratory equipment'. Vindon was the first in its particular field to achieve this standard. In 1999 the Scope of Registration was expanded to include 'The storage of customer supplied products' (i.e. in-house stability trials). The company has recently achieved registration to ISO9001:2000 and the Scope of Registration now includes 'Installation and validation'.
Vindon holds a Human Tissue Authority licence for the storage, distribution and import/export of human cells and tissue.