APC, the Irish research and development company that partners with the global pharmaceutical and biotech industry to accelerate the development and launch of quality, life-changing medicines to patients, has announced the completion of a €10 million investment expanding the research facilities at its global headquarters in Cherrywood, Co Dublin.
Development of new emerging medicines in various therapeutic areas
Within this investment, which includes a new biotech facility, is a requirement for up to 50 new highly skilled R&D positions, supporting the development of new emerging medicines in various therapeutic areas. Currently APC is working on 20+ medicines for a variety of cancers, respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s and HIV.
Established in 2011 by Dr Mark Barrett (CEO) and Professor Brian Glennon (CTO), APC utilises its proprietary technology platforms to provide process development solutions across multiple disease treatment modalities.
This helps reduce the time, costs and risk associated with the development, launch and manufacture of these therapies. Working with eight of the top 10 global pharma companies and five of the top 10 biotech companies, and with 85 per cent of its revenue being export driven, APC’s ambition is to utilise advanced technology to disrupt the process to discover and develop new medicines.
Currently employs 120 people, majority of which are chemical engineers, process and biopharmaceutical scientists
APC currently employs 120 people, the majority of which are chemical engineers, process and biopharmaceutical scientists. The company is the largest employer in Ireland of PhD qualified chemical engineers and one of the country’s largest employers of PhD-level scientists.
The new facility announced will grow the Cherrywood HQ to 60,000 sq ft, with staff numbers expected to increase by more than 40 per cent by the end of 2019.
As part of this announcement, APC is also marking the launch of a 500 litre biologics facility which will be operated in partnership with Bavarian Nordic, an international biotech company which develops immunotherapies and vaccines for infectious diseases.
Representing a joint investment of €2 million, the pilot platform will help expedite R&D timeframes and ensure the latest process and engineering technology are fully integrated to Bavarian Nordic’s new processes and therapies.
The flexible nature of the facility will make it available for use across multiple innovative biologic platforms, for example vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and cell & gene therapies.
Viral, gene and cell therapies
Mark Barrett, CEO of APC, said: “This multi-million-euro investment represents APC’s continued expansion into new and emerging therapies and technologies such as viral, gene and cell therapies. We are also delighted that the new facility with Bavarian Nordic will enforce our stated mission of accelerating the development of quality, life-changing medicines to patients.
"This pilot platform, delivered in just 10 months, fully integrates the latest Process Analytical Technology (PAT), Process Modelling and Control Capabilities ensuring an optimised, robust and transferable process is developed.
"This 500L scale manufacture process will then be tech transferred into GMP assets within Bavarian Nordic. We pay tribute to our client partner Bavarian Nordic for their support during this project, and, of course, all the scientific endeavour and teamwork of the APC team who have delivered yet again.”
Brian Sall, senior vice-president, global operations, at Bavarian Nordic, said: “The partnership between APC and Bavarian Nordic has been a key factor for us in accelerating the development of a future robust and cost-effective manufacturing process for the commercial supply of vaccines for treatment of Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
"With a mortality rate on a par with influenza, there is a high unmet medical need for an RSV vaccine for the protection of children, elderly and individuals with respiratory and circulatory diseases.
"In March 2018, Bavarian Nordic reported positive clinical data from its 421 patient, Phase 2 study investigating the safety and immune effects of its universal RSV vaccine, MVA-BN RSV in an older adult population.”