I remember that post and there was a lot of speculation about pharmas near Macc. (Cannot remember if anyone got it right) The post is dated the 18 Aug so we can assume that these trials were ongoing at that time and in a place unknown.
The poster would be involved in data gathering so that the validation paper work conformed to regulations and specification. The machine would have undergone pre validation runs to iron out any problems so that any deviation from the norm would be fixed prior to these trials as they are expensive.
I would imagine that the installation and validation re-runs would have taken place by this time and the M/C is up and running ready to go in the beginning of 2007.