Irish bioprocessing companies get €2.3M grant

Grant

Enterprise Ireland has given €2.3 million for a research programme to develop more reliable and cheaper processes for manufacturing biopharmaceuticals. The project will involve eight Irish and seven multinational companies including Wyeth, Genzyme, Pfizer, Schering Plough, Eli Lilly and Elan.

Enterprise Ireland has worked with the companies to scope what is required to improve existing production systems. The aim is precise quality control throughout the manufacturing process, as an advance on existing methods which use laboratory analysis to assess quality after the drug has been manufactured.

The research will be 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.

The pharmaceutical sector has been a major contributor to the growth of the Irish economy in recent years, with net exports of €16.7 billion in 2008, making Ireland the largest net exporter of pharmaceuticals in the world.

Keith O'Neill, Enterprise Ireland's Director of Lifescience Commercialisation, said, “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.”