GSK founding partner for Victorian Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre

GSK Australia today announced its financial and in-kind support for the Medicine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) to maintain Victoria’s global competitive advantage in pharmaceutical manufacturing through the development of key skills and support for commercial products and processes.

The centre builds on seven years successful experience between GSK and the Monash Institute for Pharmaceutical Science (MIPS).  The GSK-MIPS collaboration was established in 2009 with $3.3 million initial funding from the Victorian Government Science Agenda and GSK.  Since then GSK has invested over $100 million to expand its manufacturing in Victoria. 

In addition, since 2010, over 85 tertiary-level students have gained real-world experience through internships between MIPS and GSK.  Many of these students obtained positions with GSK or other companies within a short period of completing their degrees. And in 2015, GSK opened a new $8 million pilot vaccine facility in Victoria based on new blow-fill-seal (BFS) technology that had early work conducted at MIPS.

Anne Belcher, GSK’s General Manager Australia (Designate) said: “Australia is home to some of the best researchers in the world, and we boast world-class research infrastructure and strong pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities.

“When linked together through collaboration, these strengths make Australia an attractive environment for investment by the innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

“Together with Monash University, we have investigated new processes and devices moving from early stage research into new products that we are ready to launch.  Collaborations such as this can help us achieve strong commercialisation outcomes that can be enhanced with Government support.

“The pharmaceutical industry spends approximately $1 billion on R&D in Australia each year and is the second largest exporter of manufactured goods in Australia, at $3bn a year.

“Our industry operates in a highly competitive environment internationally, and Government programmes like the Medicine Manufacturing Innovation Centre have an important role to play in improving Australia’s position.

“The launch of the Medicine Manufacturing Innovation Centre sends a strong signal that the Victorian government wants to work with the Australian pharmaceutical industry to accelerate innovation and is an opportunity for Government funding to stimulate further investment,” she added.

The pharmaceutical manufacturing sector employs thousands of workers directly.  Next generation talent will be trained through joint mentoring of project-employed researchers and undergraduate student placements to develop specialist skills in pharmaceutical technology, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and analytical troubleshooting.

GSK’s manufacturing plant in Boronia is its largest site in the southern hemisphere and manufactures respiratory products using a specialised advanced manufacturing process called blow-fill seal.  GSK exports approximately 75 per cent of the medicines manufactured in Australia to 58 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Additional resources

Videos:

Vaccine innovation through collaboration:https://youtu.be/_Jf1DFMVml4

Collaboration aims to make childbirth safer:https://youtu.be/AvF49aOPS8Q

Enquiries:

Bernadette Murdoch

0449 950 745