BAC B.V. and GE Healthcare Collaboration Wins Industry Award
Since 2006, BAC and GE Healthcare have worked closely together, developing products aimed at improving the efficiency of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. With a focus on the development of affinity resins for highly efficient purification, the collaboration has led to the commercial launch of seven products which are now used worldwide in the manufacture of potentially life-saving medicines such as coagulation factors, various antibody formats, biosimilars and gene-therapy vectors. Worldwide demand for biopharmaceuticals is set to increase, driven by an ageing population, rising obesity levels and the global effort to reduce the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases.
Laurens Sierkstra, CEO of BAC, said: “We are delighted to see our joint efforts to enable the development of the latest biotherapeutics recognised by those in the industry. Our on-going collaboration with GE Healthcare has been highly productive and responsive to the needs of end-users.”
Commenting on the award, Dr. Nigel Darby, Vice President of BioTechnologies, GE Healthcare Life Sciences added, “Collaborations between companies with complementary technologies and expertise are vital in making the advances that will help us tackle global challenges such as the increasing burden of disease and cost of healthcare. With global demand for cost effective biotherapeutics set to rise, collaborations like ours that deliver innovative supporting technologies will play an increasingly significant role.”
About BAC BV:
BAC discovers, develops and manufactures separation and affinity purification products for use across the value chain of biopharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing. Based on BAC’s proprietary single-chain antibody technology called CaptureSelect®, the products are suitable for the discovery, preclinical and clinical manufacturing of therapeutic proteins, including antibodies and antibody fragments. They enable a reduced time to market, increased purity and yield and an overall lower cost of goods for biopharmaceutical drug development. BAC BV was established in 1995 as a Unilever subsidiary and is collaborating with the leading life sciences vendors. Currently the Company employs 37 people with an R&D laboratory facility in Leiden and a state-of-the-art ISO 9001 certified manufacturing plant in Naarden, the Netherlands. For more information about BAC, visit www.bacbv.com, and for CaptureSelect® products, visit www.captureselect.com
Media Contacts:
College Hill Life Sciences
Dr Lynne Trowbridge
T +44 7815 167 026
Dr Robert Mayer
T +49 89 5230 8030
E bac@collegehill.com