The vendor’s latest "factory-in-a-box" offering – the KUBio BSL2 – is designed for products that require a biosafety level 2 (BSL2) environment, such as viral vector-based vaccines, oncolytic viruses, and gene and cell therapies.
The KUBio facility is designed, constructed, and equipped according to current good manufacturing practice (cGMP), and its rapid assemblage makes it easier and quicker for pharma companies to get drugs to market, according to GE.
“Biomanufacturers are looking for fast market entry, lower costs, smaller batches, and multiproduct manufacturing flexibility,” said general manager of GE’s bioprocess business Oliver Loeillot.
As the facility is prefabricated, GE said it can be easily expanded to accommodate an increased market demand.
Its structure is designed around the biomanufacturing process, explained director of business development and innovation for GE’s bioprocess business Daria Donati.
It is a turnkey, pre-engineered facility designed around GE’s technologies, such as the firm’s single-use biomanufacturing platform the FlexFactory, she added.
The KUBio can also be used to manufacture monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based therapies.
“We are launching the solution today,” Donati told us, adding that the firm is already in discussions with a number of companies interested in adopting the platform.
GE launched its first off-the-shelf range of modular biomanufacturing factories in 2012 and has since sold the KUBio factory to firms including JHL Biotech in Wuhan, China, and Pfizer in Hangzhou, China.