The centre for process innovation enhances the compatibility of Biologic medicines with containers

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has teamed up with biotech magnates Arecor to make biological medicines more compatible with their containers to preserve their shelf life and improve their stability. PIF takes a closer look at this revolutionary biotechnology collaboration.

Vial and syringe components can have an adverse effect on the stability of some biological medicines. This can cause degradation and ultimately render medicines unsuitable for use and effectively prompt costly product recalls.

This is an age old conundrum for the biopharmaceutical industry. And yet the causative factors and degradation mechanisms haven't, until now, been explored in any great detail. Now, this collaboration between Arecor and CPI Biologics aims to highlight the root causes of degradation and establish a screening system for early detection of compatibility issues where novel biologics are concerned.

According to the CPI website,

“The output of this project could be of great benefit for derisking the global biologics discovery and manufacturing supply chain, in addition to aiding healthcare providers by cutting costs, reducing waste and enabling wider patient access to these beneficial therapies.”

Dr Chris Dowle, Director of Biologics at CPI said, “We are delighted to have formed this partnership with Arecor and hope this will be the first of many such projects.”

Tom Saylor, CEO of Arecor added, “The issues related to incompatibility with containers is of increasing importance and we are confident that our technology can be adapted to address these problems. Our partnership with CPI under the NBMC collaboration framework represents a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the development of Arecor’s capability in this area.”

The Centre for Process Innovation is a UK-based technology innovation centre and part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. It uses applied knowledge in science and engineering, combined with state of the art development facilities, to enable clients to develop, prove, prototype and scale up the next generation of products and processes.

The CPI's open innovation model allows products and processes to be developed with minimal risk. They provide assets and expertise so that industry players can demonstrate the feasibility of new products and processes “on paper, in the lab and in the plant” before being manufactured.

Arecor is a pioneer in the stabilisation of biologic molecules and has partnered with the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies to enhance the commercial value and practical applications of countless therapeutic proteins, peptides and vaccines.

This is the first industry partnership that CPI Biologics has carried out in association with its £38m National Biologics Manufacturing Centre (NBMC). It will be undertaken at CPI’s Wilton laboratories and clean rooms ahead of the NBMC's opening in 2015.

The project begins with a “proof-of-concept” phase over the course of a six-month period, with the potential to move into a development phase for establishing standardised procedures and tools to be made available across the industry if everything goes according to plan.

For more information please visit Arecor or the CPI.