Alpha announces new UK R&D and process development base

Contract biomanufacturing firm Alpha Biologics has announced that its new R&D and process development laboratories will be based within an ultra-modern complex currently being built at the Babraham Research Park in Cambridge. The facility is under fast-track construction and due to be operational in November 2010. Michelle Peake, Alpha's COO said:

"We need modern and GLP-compliant labs in the UK to complement the new $18m mammalian cell biomanufacturing plant we've just built at Penang Biotech Park in Malaysia. Our existing labs are at Babraham, but we've had a good look around to see where we can get best advantage for the new facility. In the end, we decided Babraham had so much to offer that we're not going anywhere else. Cambridge is pretty much at the heart of the UK biotechnology industry and that's a good place for us to be".

Alpha's UK labs develop biomanufacturing processes for clients seeking to manufacture products from mammalian cells or micro-organisms, such as monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins.

Past project examples have included growth studies for mammalian cell lines, the production & purification of antibodies and antibody fragments, cell membrane preparation from recombinant cell lines and many others. The UK operations are headed by the company's Director of Process Development and Manufacturing, Mark Doran, who said:

"These new labs will provide R&D and process development up to 10-litre capacity in bioreactor, roller bottle or wave reactor systems, plus downstream purification processes. For clients who need cGMP mammalian cell manufacture, we will use either a separate suite at Cambridge or cGMP labs in Penang to do process development and scale-up, before transferring the technology to our main cGMP manufacturing suites in Penang. The new labs will be an important facility in allowing us to shorten the product development cycle and increase productivity - and this means big time and money savings for clients".