Biocon Biologics Ltd, a fully integrated ‘pure play’ biosimilars company and a subsidiary of Biocon Ltd, has announced that it has been awarded with the 2021 Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) from the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE).
The company received an Honorable Mention award for its monoclonal antibodies drugs substances manufacturing facility located at Biocon Park.
This is the first time that a biopharmaceutical company from India has been awarded an ISPE FOYA mention. Every year, ISPE’s FOYA programme recognises projects utilising new, innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines and demonstrate advances in project delivery.
Biocon Biologics’ new 340,000-square feet B3 facility is being built in a modular manner to allow for expansion into Phase 2. This is one of the largest monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) manufacturing facilities in India in terms of built area for a single building/site. The first phase of the facility has been built at an investment of around $120 million.
The facility will enhance the company’s manufacturing capacity for mAbs manifolds and improve its ability to enable affordable access for patients across the globe. The facility is intended for commercial and clinical manufacturing for global regulated markets, including the US and Europe. The Phase I of the facility has completed qualification and is preparing for commercialisation.
Shreehas Tambe, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Biocon Biologics, said: “The ISPE Facility of the Year Award is a proud moment for us at the Biocon Group. This prestigious award is a recognition of Biocon Biologics’ design, project management, execution capabilities and above all the determination of the entire team to succeed despite the several challenges of 2020. I would like to acknowledge the remarkable collaboration between the project team, various functions, our consultants, partners, vendors for their tireless efforts which allowed us to successfully complete and commission this award-winning biologics manufacturing facility.”