Minister Conor Lenihan T.D. announces research project to advance Ireland's biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector

Conor Lenihan, T.D., Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources today (Tuesday 2nd June 2009) announced details of a €2.3 million Enterprise Ireland funded research programme for the biopharmaceutical sector in Ireland.  The aim of the programme is to deliver more efficient, reliable and cheaper processes for manufacturing biopharmaceutical medicines. 

There are 15 companies involved in the project, eight are Irish companies - BioUETIKON, Stokes Bio, Valcon Consulting, Luxcel Biosciences, Cellix, DPS Engineering, Pharmeng and Technopath.  Seven multinationals are also involved - Wyeth, J&J (Centocor), Genzyme, Pfizer, Schering Plough, Eli Lilly and Elan.

Enterprise Ireland has already worked with the companies to identify specific developments required to improve the production systems used to manufacture these drugs.  The application of these developments will allow precise quality control throughout the manufacturing process.  This will be an advance on traditional methods which use laboratory analysis to measure quality after the drug has been manufactured - an inefficient and expensive process with high levels of waste and unnecessary energy consumption.

The team that will carry out the research is led by University College Dublin, with support from Dublin City University, the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training and the Tyndall National Institute in University College Cork.  ABB, which employs over 450 people in Ireland, will support the academic research team with analytical and commercial aspects of the research programme. 

Making the announcement, Minister Lenihan said: "The pharmaceutical industry has been a major contributor to the growth of the Irish economy in recent years.  Pharmaceutical net exports exceeded €16.7 billion in 2008, making Ireland the largest net exporter of pharmaceuticals in the world. Industry specific initiatives like this one are contributing to a national culture of innovation, which is a significant benefit to companies in the biopharma sector and others as they move up the value chain.  This 3 year industry-led research project represents a milestone in building Ireland's smart economy".

According to Dr. Keith O'Neill, Enterprise Ireland's Director of Lifescience Commercialisation, "the key benefit to the companies involved will be access to the next generation of process control tools to enable safe and efficient production of biopharmaceutical drugs.  By investing in the development of these advanced technologies, Ireland is positioning itself to lead the next wave of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and ensure our competitiveness in this sector."

Enda Mimnagh, Life Sciences Manager of ABB Ireland expects that "by the end of this research project, the biopharmaceutical sector in Ireland will be able to reduce costs, increase competitiveness and produce more reliable data required by regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA)".

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For more information contact:

Grace Labanyi, Communications Officer, Enterprise Ireland Tel: 087 3286404 or 01 7272746

Notes for Editors

Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology.  Biopharmaceuticals 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.  An example of a biopharmaceutical is biosynthetic 'human' insulin made via recombinant DNA technology.

About ABB
ABB is a global Power & Automation Company employing over 110,000 people in 110 different countries.  On a more local level ABB Ireland employs over 400 people through 5 different facilities in Ireland.  In Ireland ABB has a centre of excellence for the Life Sciences Industry delivering key expertise to some of the worlds largest chemical and pharmaceutical companies. ABB as a company has empowered the Irish team with driving forward the Life Sciences Industry on a global level delivering productive solutions for the market.

Enterprise Ireland's Industry-Led Research Programme
Enterprise Ireland's Industry-Led Research Programme (ILRP) supports medium-term 'shared agenda' research activity among companies who could not afford to fund such research on their own.  To date, the programme has supported six groups of manufacturing and internationally-traded services companies to come together to identify a way to solve a shared technology problem or opportunity that a research project could solve.  Projects generally take between 9 months and 2 years to complete and the research is contracted out to a publicly-funded research institution, with a maximum funding limit of €1.5 million.  For more information, visit www.enterprise-ireland.com/ilrp

A word on some of the Irish companies involved
Enterprise Ireland's investments in research commercialisation contributed to the creation of 4 of the Irish companies involved - BioUETIKON (formerly Archport Ltd), Cellix, Stokes Bio and Luxcel Biosciences.

BioUETIKON (formerly Archport Ltd)
BioUETIKON is based on the campus of Dublin City University where it began life in 1998, as an Enterprise Ireland supported spin-out company from DCU called Archport Limited.  In 2006, CU Chemie Uetikon GmbH, Germany acquired 80% shareholding in Archport Limited and in 2007 Archport Limited was renamed BioUETIKON.  The company provides high quality Bioprocess Development/Optimisation and cGMP Bioproduction Services.  Visit www.biouetikon.com

Cellix
Cellix, based at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Dublin is an Enterprise Ireland supported spin-out from TCD.  The company has developed a ground breaking microfluidics drug screening tool currently being used by over a third of the top ten pharmaceutical companies worldwide.  Visit www.cellixltd.com

Stokes Bio
Stokes Bio Limited is an Enterprise Ireland supported spin-out company founded in 2005 by Mark Davies and Tara Dalton based on technology developed by the Stokes Research Institute, University of Limerick. Stokes Bio develops microfluidics technologies for Gene Expression measurement and Gene Target Detection.  Visit www.stokesbio.com

Luxcel Biosciences
Luxcel Biosciences, based at the BioTransfer Unit in University College Cork, was founded in 2002 by Richard Fernandes and Dimitri Papkovsky, with support from Enterprise Ireland, to commercialise new, advanced, porphyrin-based, phosphorescent, oxygen-sensing probes and oxygen sensors, for applications in the pharmaceutical and food safety industries.  Visit www.luxcel.com

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