Contract biopharma plant opens in Finland

In an unusual move, Finnish science park Medipolis has set up a new Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) pilot plant to take advantage of the growing demand for biopharmaceutical production capacity.

The plant, operated by a company called Medipolis GMP, is designed to produce drugs, medical devices or diagnostics aids in pilot quantities for clinical trials, and has already been validated by Finland's regulatory agency (the NAM).

While a somewhat novel move for a science park, the new plant draws on the experience Medipolis has gained with a similar project, the operation of a chemical synthesis pilot plant, which was completed in 1998. This offers manufacturing of gram to kilogram quantities of active drug substances, as well as process development, and two years after being set up was converted into an independent company called Pharmatory.

Medipolis GMP provides both microbial (10-500 litres) and cell culture (10-100 litres) production, as well as downstream processing and a full cleanroom suite.

The new company's managing director, Sirkka Aho, said that Medipolis GMP​ is interested in forging partnerships with US biopharmaceutical players.