CANBERRA: GSK Australia has opened a new $8 million pilot vaccine facility which could boost the country’s pharmaceutical exports. Geoff McDonald, VP and general manager, GSK Australia, said if successful, the Victorian facility would be the first to commercially produce a vaccine delivered using blow-fill-seal technology.
GSK Australia — a subsidiary of British pharma giant GSK — also hopes the new method could help to reduce overall vaccination costs, in turn helping more children in developing countries access potentially life-saving treatment. “The opening of the facility is a significant initiative for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Australia,” Mr McDonald said.
The pharmaceutical industry is the second-largest exporter of manufactured goods in Australia. In 2014, Australian “medicinal and pharmaceutical products” exports totalled $2.923 billion. With GSK Australia’s exports at $437m for the 2014 calendar year, it represented about 15 per cent of the industry’s total exports.
“Australia boasts world-class research infrastructure and a strong pharmaceutical manufacturing capability,” Mr McDonald said. “These strengths make Australia an attractive environment for investment by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, especially when paired with supportive government programs and policies.”
The new GSK facility, which was officially opened by Assistant Minister for Science Karen Andrews, was built following a $7.7m investment by GSK and supported by a $1m federal government grant.
GSK outlined that at significant volumes, blow-fill-seal (BFS) technology was an efficient, cost effective way to manufacture high quality, sterile products. In a single process, BFS technology forms the container, fills it with the sterile liquid then seals the container to maintain a high assurance of sterility.
A collaboration between GSK’s Boronia team in Victoria and Monash University, with global vaccine experts in Belgium, developed the “groundbreaking” way to use BFS to manufacture a vaccine.
