DSM joins with Australian government for biologics plant

02-May-2010 - Last updated on 03-May-2010 at 08:17 GMT

DSM Biologics has entered into a partnership with the Australian government to build a 70,000 sq ft biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility.

Australia has a growing biotech sector but lacks a local contract manufacturing organisation (CMO), leading to A$60m ($56m) of business being outsourced overseas each year. To remedy this Queensland State Government and Commonwealth of Australia are funding the facility.

DSM will provide no capital for the project but will offer the technological expertise needed to design and set up the facility. Combining this expertise with state funding will create a 70,000 sq ft facility offering mammalian process development and clinical and commercial scale production.

Companies outsourcing to the current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) compliant facility will be able to choose between standard technology processes and DSM’s proprietary XD and DSP optimisation methods.

DSM’s involvement also means the site will support the PER.C6 cell line, which it has co-exclusive licensing rights for proteins and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), as well as standard Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-based systems.

Investing in biopharm

The cGMP manufacturing facility is expected to be operational in 2013 and is located within the Queensland Translational Research Institute (TRI) in Brisbane, Australia. TRI is expected to open in 2012 and will be a one-stop-shop for discovery, production and clinical testing of biologics.

Federal and Queensland governments have invested more than A$100m in the TRI, which is intended to provide economies of scale and improved efficiency in research through greater collaboration.

For DSM the facility forms an “important element” of its CMO strategy, improving its ability to serve clients at all phases of development and commercialisation.