Portrett Pharmaceuticals has become the newest collaborative tenant at the MARBIONC facility.

The Wilmington-based company announced the launch of its custom contract testing laboratory early this month. Portrett is a contract research organization that specializes in testing small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients and is led by founder and CEO Kimberly Lupo, according to a press release.

Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning at the UNCW MARBIONC center at 5598 Marvin K. Moss Lane to welcome the firm.

Portrett’s goal is to provide high-quality analytical testing by forming custom partnerships with clients ranging from virtual pharmaceutical companies to biotech startups, the release stated.
 
Lupo, who has a master’s degree in chemistry and business administration, has more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She worked with clients at Metric Contract Services for 13 years and started Portrett in August.

"When I came up with the concept for Portrett Pharmaceuticals, my goal was to provide quality testing with a unique customer service experience,” Lupo said in the release. “I believe we achieved that, and we are ready to help those businesses to achieve their goals.”

MARBIONC (Marine Biotechnology in North Carolina) is a research- and development-based economic and workforce development program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington that discovers, develops and markets new products and technologies derived from the sea.

This partnership furthers a goal of the MARBIONC program, which is to provide “a space for university researchers, private firms and government agencies to collaborate and work together in creating workforce and economic development for the next generation of biotechnology products and solutions,” its website stated.

According to the release, Portrett is able to deliver unique features and benefits, which include quick turnaround on testing and method development, timely and cost-effective analytical testing and provide special instrumentation.