1 Feb 2012: New Technology Grant

FEBRUARY 2011: Biopharm Services has been awarded a UK Technology Strategy Board grant to develop our software bioprocess database application to support rapid bioprocess development and technology transfer to manufacturing. Extending the functionality of the BioSolve platform to recipe management and facility fit.

Annual Bioprocess Simulation prize

Biopharm Service's Annual Bioprocess Simulation prize was awarded in November 2011 to a team of undergraduate students at UCL's Department of Biochemical Engineering for their work on "Application of BioSolve computer simulation tool for investigating the process economics of antibody production". The BioSolve modelling tool was used to evaluate the economics of a process to produce an IgG antibody for treating arthritis and to understand impact of scale-up to and for process optimisation. This demonstrates the value of BioSolve to help students within the teaching programmes at UCL to understand the impact of process and technology choices.
Download the UCL BioSolve poster

Past President of the IChemE joins the Biopharm Team

Bioprocess specialist Stephen Vranch joins Biopharm Services. Since 1968 Stephen has held senior positions in Project and Process Engineering, Fermentation and Process Development and in Production of Diagnostics and Biological Therapeutic Pharmaceuticals, including licensed bulk product. Stephen was a former President of the IChemE. As our lead consultant, Stephen specialises on all aspects of CGMP regulatory compliance.

BioSolve

BioSolve used to generate data for GE lifecycle assessment of the entire monocloncal antibody production process: a comparison of multi-use and single-use processes. Upcoming webinar

Press release

14/01/2011: Biopharm Services Ltd Appoints Advisory Board To Expand Range of Tools and Services. DOWNLOAD »

Adoption of BioSolve Process in UCL Biochemical Engineering Courses

BioPharm Services is pleased to announce the adoption of BioSolve Process by the Biochemical Engineering Department of University College London (UCL). The cost modelling software has been used for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses including the MBI® programme (Modular Training for the Bioprocess Industries).

BioSolve Process has been integrated into undergraduate practical experiments on ultra scale-down centrifugation and filtration. The model gives students an insight into the effects of parameter changes on the cost of goods at production scale. Other applications of the model include its use on the MBI® module on Effective Biopharmaceutical Development where the BioSolve case study has been used to give delegates hands on experience of using BioSolve Process to find the lowest cost of goods for a product by looking at process and technology improvements.

The adoption of BioSolve Process at UCL has been enabled through a Knowledge Transfer Secondment Scheme grant from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The funding was used by BioPharm Services and UCL's EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) in Bioprocessing to bring industry-based software and knowledge to the academic and research environment (Click here to read more about the EPSRC Grant).

Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Professor of Biochemical Engineering and Head of Department, said: "We are pleased to incorporate BioSolve Process into our teaching programmes. This is the first software package that allows the students to focus directly on process design without the need to become software simulation experts. We have found this allows the students to get greater insights more rapidly and enables them to understand more fully the consequences of design choices."

Building a facility around disposables, choice and challenges

Olivier Cochet, Head of Industrial Biotechnology department, Pierre Fabre, presents on Pierre Fabres new facility which is now under construction: design engineering and process modelling of this facility entirely based on disposable technologies carried out by Biopharm Services Design Consultancy. MORE »

Knowledge Transfer Secondment BioProcess Modelling

BioPharm Services’ knowledge transfer secondment with the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre” (IMRC) for Bioprocessing at University College London

The UKs Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded a prestigious Knowledge Transfer Secondment grant to Biopharm Services and University College London’s IMRC for Bioprocessing

The main focus of the research is to create the tools and methods needed for the rapid development of manufacturing processes for novel biological therapeutics. This secondment extends and enhances the research by examining how to measure key engineering properties of biological materials used in bioprocessing by IMRC ultra scale-down methods and to connect these to mathematical models used in the biotech industry to predict process performance.

The research will provide industry with proof-of-concept tools for making process decisions based on scientific evidence and offers the potential to increase process yields, efficiency and costs. The research will examine, for a small subset of problems, how to achieve a more streamlined flow of experimental data into mathematical models enabling more accurate manufacturing platform prediction. The platform used to make these predictions is a tool called BioSolve, a full process modelling platform developed by BioPharm Services a pioneer in the development of such process modelling tools. The challenge is to link the parameter values derived from such scale-down experimental work to full process sequence scenarios.

The results of the research will demonstrate the integration of ultra scale down mimics such as scale down centrifugation, process chromatography and filtration into the BioSolve framework, bridging the gap between academia and industry. The aim is to use the BioSolve process modelling platform in the departments teaching and laboratory programmes to provide the latest process modelling capabilities for design and data analysis from ultra scale-down experiments.

Editors Notes:

BioPharm Services
Biopharm Services Ltd. is a recognised expert biotech consulting group founded in 1999 by Andrew Sinclair. Since the companies creation there has been a strong focus on developing biotech process models In 2008 the company launched a new generation of software the BioSolve suite , a user configurable, rapid analysis tool which has met with considerable market success. BioSolve reference Users include MedImmune corporation, MSD Biologics, Sanofi Pasteur and on the supplier side Millipore corporation, Xcellerex, Dow Pfenex and many others. The BioSolve suite is used internally for engineering design for both new build & retrofit projects.

University College London’s EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) in Bioprocessing
The multi-disciplinary IMRC in Bioprocessing draws upon academic expertise from a wide range of UCL departments as well as from recognised experts in other institutions throughout the UK. The IMRC has a single focus: To change fundamentally the ways in which bioprocesses are developed for the manufacture of complex and highly specific next-generation biopharmaceuticals

Collaborative doctoral and post-doctoral projects are currently underway and are funded by a combination of BBSRC, EPSRC and Technology Strategy Board awards. A consortium of 13 companies supports the programme financially and through the promotion of industrial strains and materials. A senior Management Committee provides strategic direction to the IMRC and in particular helps with outreach. Current consortium members include: BioPharm Services (UK), Eli Lilly (UK & USA), GE Healthcare (UK & EU), GSK (UK), Health Protection Agency (UK), Lonza Biologics (UK, EU & USA), MedImmune (UK), Merck (USA), Novo Nordisk (EU), BTG (UK), Pfizer (UK & USA) TAP (UK) and UCB (UK).

The capacity to determine critical engineering parameters early in evolution of a bioprocess design lies at the heart of the IMRC philosophy. Increasingly we are employing the use of highly automated and miniaturised systems to investigate key aspects of bioprocess behaviour.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemeng/industry/imrc

EPSRC
Are the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing more than £850 million a year.

Contacts:
Andrew Sinclair, Managing Director, BioPharm Services Ltd
Tel: +44(0) 1494 793 243
Email: a.sinclair@biopharmservices.com