ISPE Announces FOYA Category Winners

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) announced the category winners of its annual Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) program in an April 7, 2020 press release. The awards recognize innovation and excellence in facility design, construction, and operations.

“Technology and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry are more critical now than ever before as healthcare worldwide is straining from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tim Howard, president and CEO of ISPE, in the press release. “Even in these trying times, it is important to spotlight the dedication of companies like the 2020 FOYA Category Winners who are at the forefront of not only setting the standard for pharmaceutical facilities of the future but also creating new opportunities to enhance patient health and safety worldwide.”

Category awards

The Equipment Innovation Category was awarded to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd for its new In-Vivo Building in Basel, Switzerland, which is a dedicated animal research facility for animal testing of pharmaceutical compounds. Innovations include flexible, modular setups and automation.

Pfizer won the Facility Integration Category for its Pfizer Building E - Andover Clinical Manufacturing Facility (ACMF) in Andover, MA. The project relocated clinical-scale capacity from Missouri to Massachusetts in order to expand clinical biological drug substance manufacturing capacity and to vertically integrate by co-locating early-phase clinical manufacturing with the site’s existing large-scale commercial manufacturing. The ACMF was designed to accommodate both microbial and mammalian cell capabilities, and it uses wireless process automation and wireless asset tracking.

Sanofi was awarded the Facility of the Future Category award for its Sanofi Digitally Enabled Integrated Continuous Biomanufacturing Facility in Framingham, MA. The facility uses single-use systems for its continuous upstream and downstream processing and buffer and media preparation and distribution. Digital integration includes process control, data collection, and analytics. Fully electronic batch records enable review and release by exception.

The Operational Excellence Category was awarded to Eli Lilly and Company for its Innovation Development Center in Indianapolis, IN. They embraced optimized work processes and provided workspace to agilely adapt not only to laboratory needs, but to the most appropriate processes for collaboration and workspaces. The center established itself as a model for rapid pharmaceutical development, proving to the industry that it is possible to bring successful therapies to market faster than ever before.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals won the Process Innovation Award Category for its Mirror 1: The Continuous Manufacturing Platform for the Development of a new Oral Solid Dosage Portfolio based in Beerse, Belgium. The platform integrates direct compression, roller compaction, and twin-screw wet granulation into a single equipment set for flexible response to production needs. 

Bristol-Myers Squibb won the Project Execution Category award for its Multi-Product Cell Culture (MPCC) Project in Cruiserath, County Dublin, Ireland. The project transformed and expanded an existing API site into a biologics drug substance manufacturing campus. 

The Social Impact category, new this year, had two award winners. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) won for its Attachment Inhibitor (AI) Project based in Parma, Italy. The GSK and ViiV Healthcare project constructed and commissioned a dedicated facility in 15 months to bring to market a new medicine (fostemsavir) for people living with HIV who have few or no treatment options remaining. 

The second Social Impact Category award went to United Therapeutics for its Dinutuximab-Dedicated Oncology Medical and Analytical Laboratory in Silver Spring, MD to address the unmet medical needs of children with chronic and rare life-threatening conditions.

Honorable mentions

Boehringer Ingelheim Biopharmaceuticals China Ltd. was awarded an Honorable Mention for its new facility in Shanghai, China, which is the first international provider of biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing solutions to clients in China. The flexible facility uses a modular approach and single-use bioreactors. 

Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech USA Inc. received an Honorable Mention for its Raritan CAR-T Clinical Manufacturing Facility in Raritan, NJ. The project retrofitted an existing open shell space to expedite a GMP manufacturing facility for early-clinical trials of a therapy for multiple myeloma. 

Source: ISPE