A critical platform technology to synthesise drug compounds at scale - and onshore production in Australia - has been successfully demonstrated in a collaboration between Melbourne company Boron Molecular, and innovation and technology development specialists, DMTC Limited, with support from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.
The science behind the story is captured in a new video story - https://vimeo.com/985438077?share=copy
‘Flow chemistry’ describes the process of continuous chemical reactions in a pipe or tube, and offers a range of advantages over traditional batch chemistry processing.
Advantages include improved energy efficiency and waste reduction, improved safety in the manufacturing environment, a smaller infrastructure footprint and the opportunity to vary manufacturing volumes to meet demand.
In the event of significant supply chain pressures, flow chemistry technology could give Australia a competitive advantage and, critically, ensure the supply of at-risk active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Flow chemistry was initially pioneered in Australia by CSIRO, and the CSIRO team is also supporting the DMTC project.
The Head of the Health Security Systems Australia (HSSA) division at DMTC, Dr Felicia Pradera, said the work to date had successfully demonstrated the scalability of the flow chemistry process.
“In developing sovereign manufacturing capability, speed of response is critical but it’s far from the only measure,” Dr Pradera said.
“The team has worked diligently to ensure that technical rigour, quality control and cost-effectiveness have been front-of-mind considerations at every step.”
“Beyond the advances in technology, the down-stream benefits of DMTC’s collaborative model are also seen in the upskilling of the Australian workforce and the support provided to brilliant young researchers.”
Boron Molecular CEO Dr Oliver Hutt said the project was a great example of empowering Australian industry to rapidly solve big problems.
“In addition to building the pilot plant, our work provides a really comprehensive blueprint for stakeholders to assess the feasibility of this technology,” Dr Hutt said.
“We’re continuing to work with DMTC and have identified some really compelling niche areas this technology could be applied, to benefit Australia.”
Additional Quotes attributable to Oliver Hutt, Chief Executive Officer, Boron Molecular
“This project is a fantastic example of, we’ve done that rapidly in collaboration with the CSIRO and DMTC.”
“DMTC’s involvement was really valuable. One of DMTC's key benefits is they have very strong project management competencies, and they provided us with the tools to actively deliver this project. Working constructively with DMTC and with the CSIRO, with all our suppliers, and all the people that contributed to this project has really benefited Boron Molecular.”
“These types of big projects are just fantastic training opportunities, and it really forced us to lift our game. Upskilling our researchers has involved them being embedded at CSIRO’s FloWorks facility, and that provided invaluable access to all the capability that CSIRO provides, and also access to world-class flow chemistry researchers.”
Additional Quotes attributable to Felicia Pradera, Head of HSSA:
“This project has brought something that’s been identified as a critical technology in the national interest, matured it and demonstrated it at pilot scale, bringing it to the point where it is primed for further investment.”
“A ‘platform’ technology is one that validates a development pathway – once that process is proven with a therapeutic asset, the know-how and expertise can be transferred to support Australia’s efforts to develop local manufacturing capability for other classes of pharmaceuticals.”
Media Enquiries:
Harry Baxter, DMTC Communications | 0401 516 734 | Harry.baxter@dmtc.com.au
Contact details:
Harry Baxter
DMTC Communications
0401 516 734
