Alcami and UNCW Awarded $1.12M Biomanufacturing Workforce Development Grant

Alcami Corporation, a contract development and manufacturing organization headquartered in North Carolina, and the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) have been awarded an educational grant from the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), the company and university announced in an Aug. 30, 2018 press release. The grant will fund the UNCW program, "Partnership for Workforce Development in the Biopharmaceutical Industry," which will be co-developed and taught by Alcami subject matter experts.

NIIMBL is an organization comprised of companies, educational institutions, nonprofits, and state governments dedicated to accelerating biopharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, developing industry standards, and educating and training a pipeline of skilled workers. The UNCW program is a comprehensive laboratory, lecture, and internship series approved by NIIMBL's Project Call 1.0, a program that solicits projects to address biomanufacturing technology and workforce development issues. The $1.12-million project is funded through a $400,000 NIIMBL award in combination with additional support from project participants.

"We are thrilled to build on the successes of our academic partnership with UNCW and implement the next phase of specialized, practical, and scalable curricula to North Carolina students," said Alcami CEO, President and Chairman, Dr. Stephan Kutzer, in the press release. "Alcami and UNCW are together advancing the local employment pipeline, with a workforce already trained in biopharmaceutical processes and protocols. Our joint efforts will feed both regional and industry growth and bring safe drugs to market faster as a byproduct."

Alcami and UNCW initiated an academic partnership in July 2016, with two courses customized to enhance workforce education and prepare students for careers in pharmaceutical sciences. The first course provided students with an overview of the drug development process from concept to commercialization, focusing specifically on current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs). A second course focused on the application of cGMPs in a drug development and testing laboratory. Cape Fear and Brunswick Community Colleges are also active participants, and they are recommending students and providing support for the program.

Source: Alcami