GE and Amgen seek out raw material variability through data exchange

13-Mar-2019 - Last updated on 13-Mar-2019 at 13:39 GMT

(Image: Getty/Krtichnaut)

GE Healthcare partners for digital data exchange collaboration program with Amgen to advance understanding of biomanufacturing process on raw material variability.

Per the collaboration program, GE Healthcare and Amgen will install a connection for data transfer between the former’s raw material manufacturing sites and the latter’s process development center.

Olivier Loeillot, general manager of bioprocess at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, told us that the collaboration was formed for the mutual benefit of understanding the relationship between raw material variability and process performance during biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

GE Healthcare stated it focuses on raw materials because understanding the impact of bioprocessing on them materials can reduce risks within the supply chain.

“Utilizing digital capabilities to detect and monitor raw material variability is an important step to ensure consistent and predictable biomanufacturing process performance,” said Loeillot.

Changes in raw materials can impact the products attributes and their use in medicines. Rohini Deshpande, vice president of Attribute Sciences at Amgen, said in a statement that the company is focused on understanding its end-to-end supply chain, “by analyzing data directly from the manufacturing site for raw materials, we can have a better understanding of the effect of variations in raw materials on our products.”

Moving towards partnerships

Loeillot added, “This project is a perfect example of the type of collaboration we want to drive together with the biopharma industry, pushing the boundaries of manufacturing efficiency and performance reliability even further.”

GE Healthcare recently partnered with G-CON to combine capabilities to offer prefabricated manufacturing platforms. Additionally, the company worked with Lonza to set up a biologics facility in China.

Greg Crescenzi, enterprise solutions leader for cell & gene therapy at GE Healthcare, previously told us that partnerships have become an important strategy for the company to develop technology for the growing biopharma industry.

“We must anticipate what therapeutic manufacturing models will look like in two to three years and design tools and pursue partnerships that will allow us to meet manufacturing needs,” said Crescenzi.