CPI has signed partnership agreements with Siemens plc, Perceptive Engineering LTD and Process Systems Enterprise LTD (PSE), making them a part of the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre collaboration.
 
The partnership agreements aim to strengthen the UK’s position in pharmaceutical manufacturing through the development of continuous manufacturing innovations. Each partner will contribute to the development of a digital manufacturing solution, which will help the pharmaceutical industry as it moves towards smaller batches of more personalized medicines that require faster and more efficient manufacture.
 
The Partners
 
Siemens will provide both hardware and software to enhance the control of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. The application of Siemens’ digitalization technologies will connect the physical and digital worlds and provide the real-time information necessary for rapid decision making in a secure manner.
 
Innovation partner Perceptive Engineering will utilize its fully integrated software platform, PharmaMV, to enable the generation of Advanced Process Control models for optimized continuous manufacturing. The PharmaMV platform adapts manufacturing process parameters in response to predictions, ensuring tighter manufacturing specifications can be achieved and quality information is generated in real-time. These approaches also enable the future application of technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to pharmaceutical processing.  
 
PSE will utilize predictive process modelling to increase R&D efficiency, reduce tech transfer risk, and develop more robust control strategies. Through use of mechanistic models for continuous drug manufacture in PSE’s gPROMS FormulatedProducts platform, the industry is able to move away from a design-make-test cycle and toward a “predict first” model (i.e. design, test, make). By reordering the R&D paradigm, more design activities can be undertaken before committing material, which will result in fast, sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing process development. 
 
By connecting real-time information, data modelling and Advanced Process Control, the partners will be able to forge a pathway to faster, cheaper and more sustainable continuous medicines manufacturing. The partnership agreements will help the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre achieve its flagship Grand Challenge projects.
 
Dave Tudor, managing director of the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, Biologics & Quality at CPI, said, “I am delighted that Siemens, Perceptive Engineering and PSE will be joining the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre. Combining the specialized skills, expertise and experience of all three companies will be critical for developing disruptive technologies that will accelerate the delivery of a more agile and responsive pharmaceutical supply chain.”