GE Healthcare Delivers Modular Biopharma Facility to China

GE Healthcare shipped a complete single-use modular biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility-the largest facility of this type in the world, according to the company-to JHL Biotech's facility in China. According to a GE Healthcare news release, 62 modules were constructed in Germany and delivered to the Biolake Science Park in Wuhan, which is in the Hubei province of China.  

JHL Biotech says the facility is part of their vision for making biopharmaceuticals affordable and accessible. “This revolutionary modular facility is part of the realization of our vision in Asia, where US-made biopharmaceuticals are out of reach, and there is a large unmet medical need,” said Racho Jordanov, JHL Biotech’s CEO, in a news release.

GE Healthcare's KUBio solution offering includes bioprocessing equipment and building and project coordination services. The modules for JHL arrived at Wuhan 80–90% pre-equipped, including the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the cleanroom, most of the utility equipment, and all of the piping necessary to run the plant, noted the company.

“Achieving structural completion in such a short timeframe means that we can now focus on testing and adding more infrastructure, like power and site utilities, etc.,” said GE's project leader, Thys Smit, in the release. “We are avidly anticipating the arrival and installation of the FlexFactory hardware, which is the last key step before the KUBio facility validation and the start of production of biopharmaceuticals locally,” he added.

JHL's site includes a main service spine that will support the current KUBio unit and has an option to plug in a second KUBio unit, should it be required to meet potential increase in demand in the near future.

“Industry-wide, there is a clear focus on cost of goods and how this directly impacts final pricing. By designing the facility with the ability to support multiple KUBios, we are ideally positioned to aggressively address this issue – whilst still maintaining the speed to market and necessary quality for meeting US and EU regulations,” said Jordanov in the release.

Source: GE Healthcare