China's Shanghai CP Guojian Pharmaceutical Company is building a new active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production suite for the purpose, which will also house the largest mammalian cell-culture system in Asia.
mAbs are antibodies which have been produced in the laboratory against a specific antigen and are extremely specific when they bind to their target antigens. They are now being used in a range of next-generation biologic drugs to help combat diseases such as cancer.
Biologic drugs, particularly mAbs, are set to account for one third of all drugs on the market by 2010 and drive around 60 per cent of pharma firm revenue growth by this time.
In terms of Asia, biologic drug manufacturing is slowly starting to take off in Singapore and is expected to be a key component of the country's drug manufacturing activity in the future. The country has been heavily investing in developing capabilities in this potentially lucrative market sector, as it keeps its eye on the prize, however, until now, China has not been seen to be making any real moves in this direction.
Emerson has been chosen by Shanghai-based engineering procurement contractor M+W Zander, to design and install its PlantWeb digital plant architecture, integrated with its DeltaV system and Foundation fieldbus instrumentation, for networking intelligent process instrumentation to speed the drug production process.
According to the firm, the PlantWeb approach will use its DeltaV digital automation system to integrate variable frequency drives using DeviceNet, and all on/off valves using Asi bus.
"Integration with the DeltaV systems speeds installation and commissioning for fast start-up which is key for biopharmaceutical plants, and also includes DeltaV Batch software for process optimization and streamlined compliance".
To further speed startup, Emerson said it is supplying its AMS Suite software that communicates with smart field devices for "efficient commissioning".
"Later, AMS Suite will enable predictive maintenance by monitoring diagnostics running in field instrumentation and alerting plant personnel to issues that need maintenance attention before they affect or shut down operations", the firm said.
Emerson's role will also be to reduce the complexity of field wiring and support asset management of the smart field devices, in addition to the configuration and integration of all field devices with the control system, and the provision of the necessary on-site services to validate the system before start-up.
Located in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai, the new plant is expected to begin producing mAb drugs in China by August this year and the company said it expects to meet international standards with the products made in the facility.
Meanwhile, Emerson also took the opportunity at Interphex to showcase its new process analytical technology (PAT) tools - high fidelity cell growth models and multivariate process analytics - hailed as being able to "accelerate product creation, allow rapid manufacturing scale-up and early real-time release of biological products".
