GE Healthcare open Puridify Pilot Facility November 2018
28 November 2018
Prof Dan Bracewell and Dr Oliver Hardick took part in the the opening of Puridify / GE Healthcare’s pilot scale manufacturing facility for their proprietary nanofibre adsorbent technology
The company a UCL spin out acquired by GE a year ago originates from Oliver’s EngD with Dan and is now approaching the launch of commercial products. The facility is in Stevenage at the Bioscience Catalyst. Pictured on the trolley is a cartridge packed with nanofibres designed to process 4kg/day of therapeutic monoclonal antibody. Something that would previously have required packed beds orders or magnitude larger.
I’m really proud of what our team has achieved. We took a research concept from its beginnings in 2008 to this point where we’re manufacturing a bioprocessing purification technology from our UK base with the support of GE Healthcare. To have reached this milestone is a testament to the people I’ve worked with. The technology will now form part of a diverse product offering from GE Healthcare to meet the rapidly evolving and diversifying needs of bioprocessors across the globe to enable the more efficient manufacture of biologics with the ultimate aim of widening patient access to front line therapies. UCL Biochemical Engineering has been instrumental in enabling this success story; with the initial concept jointly devised by Prof Dan Bracewell and Prof Bob Stevens (NTU), to supporting the early spin out of Puridify and then continuing to engage through collaborative development over the later years. UCL Biochemical Engineering remain at the forefront of development in this industry.
Oliver Hardick, November 2018