Romsey, UK; 15 June 2017. Stratophase, the UK-based biopharmaceutical services and technology company, has confirmed its membership of the recently established National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals in the US.
The company’s membership was signed at NIIMBL’s inaugural meeting in Washington DC in May 2017, which was attended by Stratophase’s CEO Simon Saxby.
The important role of specialist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the future success of NIIMBL is considered vital and Stratophase is pleased to confirm it is among the first SMEs to join the organisation
NIIMBL is the eleventh institute in the Manufacturing USA network and the first to be funded by the US Department of Commerce. It was launched by US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritker in December 2016 with an award of $70 million.
In addition to advancing the US’s leadership in the biopharmaceutical industry, the institute also aims to foster US economic development, innovate the manufacturing of medical treatments and ensure a future qualified workforce by collaborating with educational institutions. It aims to raise $250180 million that will then be disbursed as awards to fund projects proposed by teams drawn from the membership. It is anticipated that each team may include a blue chip biopharma organisation, SMEs and academic groups.
Commenting on Stratophase’s membership of NIIMBL, CEO Simon Saxby said: “As an innovative biotech services and technology company, we are acutely aware of how important the US market is to Stratophase. Joining NIIMBL as a founder member demonstrates how serious we are about continuing to forge links with the US biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector. We are looking forward to our active involvement in the industrial and academic collaborations that will be enabled by being part of NIIMBL, over the coming months and years”.
About Stratophase
Stratophase is a biotech services company that is revolutionising the timelines to clinic and commercialisation for biologics. This is achieved by rapidly optimising process development using in-house developed Ranger® technology that dynamically controls the bioreactor environment in real time. The Ranger® service from Stratophase provides a valuable new approach to cell culture optimisation and is based on the real-time, on-line assessment of the metabolic activity of the cell culture, using patented technology, combined with Stratophase’s application expertise, gained with industry leading biopharma innovators. This new insight into the health and activity of the cells, is then used to direct process optimisation activities. The Ranger® technology is based on patented hardware originating from the Optical Research Centre of the University of Southampton in the early 2000s and the continuously developing suite of software IP developed by Stratophase, and is supported by the considerable experience Stratophase has gained working with customers’ cell culture processes.
About NIIMBL
NIIMBL (The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals) is a public-private consortium with the goal of advancing innovation in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The NIIMBL mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry.
