A recently announced government, university and life science industry collaboration aims to improve the production of biopharmaceutical medicines.
This will provide expertise, technology and support to help advance the manufacturing of new biopharmaceutical medicines, as part of the $3.3 million Enterprise Ireland research programme.
The programme’s goal is to deliver more efficient, reliable and cost effective processes for manufacturing biopharmaceutical medicines. Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology; they are created through the alteration of molecules, genes and cells - the basic building blocks of life - to develop useful products, processes or services such as new medicines and therapies.
The ABB life sciences centre of excellence has been appointed as project technology partner. xPAT, ABB’s Process Analytical Technology (PAT) data management solution, is the technology platform for this project, facilitating the provision by ABB of expertise to help develop improved production practices and systems for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. These leadingedge process control and developments will provide precise quality control throughout the manufacturing process, to monitor and improve product quality and raw material use in real-time.
The academic research team will be led by University College Dublin. This highly innovative project includes the demonstration of the robustness, capability and performance of a fully integrated and tested BioPAT solution for which commercial outputs have been identified, appropriately packaged and protected. ABB Engineering Services has secured two key roles on this project and Joan Evans of ABB will lead the commercialisation team.
ABB is also responsible for facilitating on-going liaison with regulatory authorities and multinational life sciences companies to ensure that research efforts are appropriately focused to deliver project outputs which have been appropriately validated and with high returns on investment.
ABB has established expertise and has been at the forefront of developing solutions and standards for the implementation of PAT, integrated control and automation systems, as well as other innovative technologies that improve the pharmaceutical
development and manufacturing process for Life Sciences customers.
As a collaborator in the Enterprise Ireland research programme, ABB will work closely with all programme participants to further develop next generation biopharmaceutical production processes that will improve product quality and safety, reduce time to
market while optimising the production process and meeting international regulatory requirements.