A major boost for Australian advanced manufacturing with GSK opening a new vaccine facility at its existing site in the Melbourne suburb of Boronia.
The facility, which was officially opened Wednesday by Assistant Minister for Science Karen Andrews, was built following a $7.7 million investment by GSK and supported by a $1 million grant through the Federal Government’s Manufacturing Transition Programme.
The facility will employ a new production method developed by an Australian-led team.
GSK says, if successful, the new method could help reduce overall vaccination costs with the potential to ensure more children in developing countries access potentially life saving vaccines.
According to Mr Geoff McDonald, VP and General Manager, GSK Australia, “The opening of the facility is a significant initiative for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Australia. If successful, it will be the first commercial production of a vaccine delivered using blow-fill-seal technology.”
“Putting a vaccine in BFS containers has the potential to deliver the product in a more compact, robust container and it has a much smaller carbon footprint compared to the current methodology,“ added Mr McDonald.
At significant volumes, BFS technology is an efficient, cost effective way to manufacture high quality, sterile products. In a single process, BFS technology forms the container, fills it with the sterile liquid then seals the container to maintain a high assurance of sterility. No other technology does this with such a small production footprint and without the need for a supply chain of aseptic components.
The GSK team in Boronia, working in partnership with Monash University and global vaccine experts in Belgium, developed the ground breaking way to use BFS to manufacture a vaccine.
According to Philip Leslie, GSK's Head of New Product Introduction and Technical, the company's collaboration with Monash, which is now in its sixth year, is "a great example of how industry and academia can work together."
"Our collaboration with Monash has supported the technology from concept through the development process and now with today's announcement of the new facility," he told BiotechDispatch, highlighting the need to overcome the technical challenge of filling a temperature sensitive product through a high temperature BFS process.
"I think it's an example of how industry can work with skilled Australian researchers, giving them an opportunity to work on the development and industrialisation of a product," said Mr Leslie. "Pharmaceutical manufacturing is an unsung hero of Australia's manufacturing sector."
The biopharmaceutical industry remains the second-largest exporter of manufactured goods in Australia. In 2014, Australian 'medicinal and pharmaceutical products' exports totalled $2.923 billion. GSK Australia’s exports of $437m in the 2014 calendar year represented around 15 per cent of the industry’s total exports.
“Our industry operates in a highly competitive environment internationally, and Government grants such as the Federal Government’s Manufacturing Transition Programme have an important role to play in improving Australia’s attraction for investment," said Mr McDonald.
“GSK and the pharmaceutical industry are significant contributors to the Australian economy and play an important role in building a strong, innovative environment, which provides economic benefits, exports and highly-skilled jobs.
“Australia boasts world-class research infrastructure and a strong pharmaceutical manufacturing capability. These strengths make Australia an attractive environment for investment by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors especially when paired with supportive government programs and policies,” he added.
GSK has invested more than $100 million in its Boronia manufacturing facility over the past four years. It is the company's largest site in the southern hemisphere and predominantly manufactures respiratory products using BFS. GSK exports approximately 75 per cent of the medicines manufactured in Australia to 58 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.