For the first time, German chemicals and pharmaceuticals major Bayer is offering a range of products and services from its biotechnology division to third-party customers seeking contract manufacturing.
The firm's site at Wuppertal Elberfeld has been used for in-house projects such as the development and production of its antidiabetic drug Glucobay (acarbose) and Kogenate (antihaemophilic factor 1) for the treatment of haemophilia. Now, the capabilities of the site are on offer to both start-up biotech companies seeking a partner for development projects and more traditional enterprises from the pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals industries.
"We can provide external contractors with individual solutions in almost all areas of classical and modern biotechnology, whether research, development or production," explained Hans-Dietrich Hörlein, head of the biotechnology department in Bayer's pharmaceutical division.
Bayer has 11 laboratory units at Wuppertal that can offer all the techniques required in biotechnology, from classical/recombinant methods of strain optimisation through to modern genetic engineering procedures to the latest product analysis methods. In addition, the company operates a pilot facility at North Rhine-Westphalia that can deal with both technical process development, including scale-up work from 10 litres to 40 cubic meters, and the production of intermediate and bulk products.