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Biologics down under
February 2012
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
BRISBANE, Australia—DSM
Biologics, the University of
Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the
state government are working together to get Australia's largest biologics
scale-up facility off the ground in Brisbane.
In December, DSM
Biologics and the University of
Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN)
signed a memorandum of understanding
securing the arrangement between the two
parties.
The collaboration involves the development of
biologics at a
$65 million scale-up facility currently under construction at the Princess
Alexandra Hospital, next to the Translational Research
Institute.
The collaboration makes it possible for both development and
potential large-scale
commercial production of the experimental Hendra virus
antibody, among other therapeutics, in Queensland.
Under the arrangement, the Queensland government entity
Biopharmaceuticals Australia will own the facility, which will be run
by DSM
Biologics, with the AIBN collaborating on early-stage biologics development.
The new facility will give preferential access to Australian firms,
including the
AIBN, for the manufacturing of biologics, a key motivator for the Queensland
and federal governments to sign on to the project. The
Queensland and federal
governments are contributing $7 million and $10 million respectively in seed
funding for the project.
David Hughes, CEO of Biopharmaceuticals Australia, says the
overall aim of the collaboration is to address a lack of
biologics
manufacturing capacity in the country. With no contract manufacturing
organization (CMO) in the country able to take local-origin products
generated
in mammalian cell cultures, there has been a resulting outflow of funds from
Australian biopharma drug developers to overseas CMOs.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh points out that around $60
million currently goes offshore to small-scale
drug and therapeutic
manufacturers, but that's all set to change.
"This represents the final steps to
ensuring that Queensland
is able to seamlessly take research into new human therapeutics through to
human clinical trials and subsequent production,"
she says.
For DSM, the facility will form an important component of
its CMO strategy, enhancing its
ability to serve clients at all phases of
commercialization and development. In addition to early-stage biologics
development, the collaboration will
also focus on cell line generation, says
DSM Biologics President Karen King.
"The expertise at
AIBN is very complementary to DSM's
skills," adds King. "The AIBN has world-class experience in mammalian cell line
development."
According to King, the AIBN will collaborate with DSM on
several levels, including assisting with cell line
construction, process
development and some technical backup for more challenging client projects.
King adds that the
collaboration is an important building
block for "our offering for the Australian biotech community. All important
process steps can be served
locally, which is important with respect to
communication and speed."
King says DSM Biologics
intends to start with the first
projects in the first half of this year and it will be ongoing after the
manufacturing plant is operational.
"The goals are to have a outstanding service offering for
the customers, making use of the professional
skill set of both parties," she
concludes.
AIBN Director Prof. Peter Gray agrees the AIBN and
DSM
Biologics have a great deal of complimentarily expertise, with DSM being an
expert in a number of biologics technologies. Moreover, Gray says
collaboration
is a fitting recognition of the skill base and facilities that had been
developed in Queensland.
"AIBN researchers have developed novel high speed methods
for rapidly developing the cell lines and bioprocesses needed to
produce the
next generation of biologics," Gray says. "The collaboration will ensure that
Australian bioresearchers will be able to rapidly progress
their therapeutic
leads into high purity material ready for evaluation in the clinic."
Code: E021228 Back |
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