AFTER ALMOST five years as a virtual entity, the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training has a permanent home from this week – a purpose-built 6,500sq m facility located on UCD’s campus.
Founded in 2006 from a consortium of UCD, Trinity, DCU and Sligo IT, the institute’s speciality area is bioprocessing – or the production of drugs using proteins instead of synthetic materials.
Bioprocessing is a growing area for the pharmaceutical sector globally. Companies like Amgen and Genzyme specialise in this area, while Merck, Novartis and Pfizer are among those making acquisitions and partnerships.
Less familiar names are also eyeing this market. In the past week, electronics giant Samsung announced a biopharma partnership with Quintiles, while Fujifilm acquired two biomanufacturing facilities from Merck.
The institute has been part-funded by IDA Ireland, which has invested €57 million. Dave Shanahan, the agency’s global head of life sciences, says the institute plays a strategic role in securing the future of pharma manufacturing in Ireland, a sector delivering more than 42 per cent of exports.
Mr Shanahan said the institute serves “a small number of companies, but if you see where the industry is going, every major company will have made significant investments in this area”.
The institute has attracted leading researchers in this field, including Prof Ian Marison and Prof Pauline Rudd. The thinking is that the team’s expertise will attract new market entrants to locate facilities in Ireland and prompt multinationals to expand their existing operations here.
“The aim is to keep the companies that are here and then also to upscale them to create a higher value to Ireland,” says Prof Marison, who was appointed as interim director of the institute in January.
“If Ireland becomes famous for quality in production and RD, then of course [multinational investment] is anchored now in Ireland because companies will come here to do their RD.”
According to Prof Marison, the institute’s representatives have already played “a critical role” in discussions with certain pharma companies to secure further investment in their Irish operations.
The bioprocessing production process requires stringent levels of quality control. Training people to work in this environment is how the institute expects to earn most of its revenue.
Demonstrations and training can take place on a scaled-down version of a bioprocessing manufacturing operation, complete with millions of euro worth of equipment. The institute can train undergraduate and postgraduate students and it also develops customised training programmes for clients in the pharma sector.
Research shares equal billing with training for the institute.
“We have research projects with practically every biopharma company in Ireland,” says Prof Marison. Income from research on behalf of industry clients is often cancelled out by the cost of performing the research, but he says the centre is on target is to be cost-neutral within two years’ time.
