DSM Pharmaceutical Products, the custom manufacturing and technology business of Royal DSM, announced today that their new cGMP custom biopharmaceutical manufacturing 'biologics plant of the future' will open in June 2013.
The DSM facility was built with cooperation from the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments of Australia. Karen King, President of DSM Biologics, the biopharmaceutical manufacturing business of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, stated, “We are thrilled to announce the June opening our of new cGMP facility in Brisbane. This operation combines DSM's twenty five years of experience and high quality track record in mammalian cell culture manufacturing with a state-of-the-art commercial and development facility. Our partnership with the Government of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia has led to this important addition to the Australian biotechnology industry and will be a key contributor to the entire Asia-Pacific region."
Alexander Wessels, President and CEO of DSM Pharmaceutical Products commented, "We are particularly delighted to be bringing our world-class operating ability to the Asia-Pacific region, an important growth area in our strategic development in the biopharmaceutical field; to provide further value to our customers in this region and around the globe." Australia has a vibrant biotechnology industry, but previously had no custom mammalian-based biopharmaceutical manufacturing operation in country. The Queensland Government formed BioPharmaceuticals Australia (BPA), who has partnered with DSM to bring this new facility and operation to Brisbane.
David Hughes, CEO of BioPharmaceuticals Australia said, "The opening of this facility satisfies a national capability gap. Our partnership gives Australia and the wider region access to DSM's extensive experience, expertise and ongoing commitment to developing improved bioprocessing technologies. DSM's operations are a good strategic fit with Australia's existing capabilities and we are already seeing flow-on benefits from local alliances".
The DSM operation will provide cGMP mammalian cell-culture contract manufacturing services from process development through to commercial manufacturing. DSM Biologics operates with all standard technologies and also has a portfolio of proprietary technologies for the optimization of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, reducing the cost and risk of mammalian cell culture. The facility has an annual output capability of 500kg and has expansion space available for further capacity utilization.