COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Danish NovoSeven Facility has been given the ‘2005 Facility of the Year Award’ by the foremost representatives of the pharmaceutical industry’s international engineering society. The award ceremony took place on Wednesday, April 27 at Interphex, the world’s largest and most comprehensive pharmaceutical conference in New York.
The 14,000 square metre NovoSeven facility in Hillerod, Denmark, was designed and constructed as a fast-track project by the life science engineering company, NNE, for the healthcare company Novo Nordisk. The facility houses production of NovoSeven, which is used for treatment of bleeding of inhibitor patients.
By breaking down the building process into modules, NNE was able to complete the NovoSeven production facility in only 18 months. Such fast-track implementation is critical to the pharmaceutical industry where it is essential to establish manufacturing capacity as soon as a product has been approved by the authorities.
According to ISPE, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering - one the sponsors for the award - the winning facility was chosen among 28 outstanding pharmaceutical facilities from 5 continents.
The award is given to a pharmaceutical manufacturer with a facility project that demonstrates global leadership - one that showcases cutting edge engineering, innovative new technology, or advanced applications of existing technology.
Vice President Henrik Risborg from Novo Nordisk accepted the award and replied: “We built the NovoSeven Facility to meet an urgent demand for a life saving drug, and therefore we wanted it to be built faster than previously seen for a facility of this magnitude and complexity. And last but not least we went for a facility characterised by simplicity and transparency to ensure a safe working environment for the employees.
We knew this was not an easy job. But NNE picked up the challenge and they turned the NovoSeven project into a living case study of modular design and engineering in order to accelerate the building process. By joint efforts we succeeded and ended up with the desired manufacturing facility, built in record time - and still appearing as an architectural gem. This ‘Facility of the Year Award’ is a great acknowledgement to everyone involved in the project. “
On the following press conference Hans Ole Voigt, President of NNE, commented: “It is a great honour for NNE that the NovoSeven Facility has won this highly prestigious award. It confirms my notion that the facility is an important milestone not only for NNE but also for the pharmaceutical industry. Challenged on the aggressive delivery schedule, the facility prompted us to rethink conventional ways of designing and building pharmaceutical facilities. As a result we developed the NNE modular concept, which enabled us to hand over the flexible facility after a fast-tracked 18-month period.”
About ‘Facility of the Year Award’
The Facility of the Year Award is introduced in 2005 by ISPE, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, in corporation with INTERPHEX and the magazine Pharmaceutical Processing. See also: http://www.facilityoftheyear.org/
About NovoSeven
NovoSeven(R) (FVIIa) enables the blood to coagulate. NovoSeven(R) is approved for treatment of bleeding of inhibitor patients, i.e. patients with haemophilia A or B. Novo Nordisk has recently completed the compilation of the regulatory dossier related to the use of NovoSeven(R) in blunt trauma.
About NNE
NNE is a world-leading supplier of facilities, consultancy and engineering services to the international pharmaceutical and biotech industries. NNE employs 1,200 people and has local presence in Denmark, China, France, Switzerland, Sweden and USA.
NNE
CONTACT: For further information please contact: Communication ManagerNNE, Mads Ruge, Tel: +45-3075-1323, mail: Mrug@nne.dk
