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Event Overview
Speaker Interview Podcast with Tony D'Amore, Ph.D., Vice President of Bioprocess Research & Development at Sanofi Pasteur, Canada
IBC's inaugural Flexible Facilities conference was a huge success recently in San Francisco, bringing together executives and technical specialists from biopharmas, engineering firms, CMOs, technology providers and regulatory groups to discuss the emerging biomanufacturing facility models emerging in the industry. (See Who Attended)
Early on in the conference attendees were asked to write down their top three definitions of facility flexibility, which were collected by conference organizers and translated visually using a Word Cloud exercise.
Click the image to magnify
These results revealed a surprising array of definitions, with the take home message being that flexibility means different things to different companies based on organizational goals. Multiple facility design and case studies presentations were given throughout the conference and a number fascinating interactive discussions ensued, including a regulatory discussion featuring a representative of Health Canada. Quite a bit of time was spent discussing the definition of a closed system and a lively debate ensued regarding harmonization of single use components and the impact on facility flexibility.
The conference wrapped up with a half day session organized by the BioPhorum Operations Group (BPOG), in which they presented status updates from several of their working groups, giving industry attendees a very interesting glimpse about the future course of biomanufactruing facility design.
Rave Review from 2013 Attendees
"The conference provided a balanced view of the current state-of-the-art technologies available to support flexible manufacturing options. The discussions around regulatory requirements and expectations were invaluable." - Jose A. Caraballo, Director Global QA, Bayer HealthCare
"Thank you for a great conference; I thought it was fantastic." - Andy Walker, Ph.D., Vice President, Process Development, CMC Biologics
"Very worthwhile conference providing excellent information on different facility design options." - Maik Jornitz, Vice President, G-Con LLC
"A good opportunity for dialogue on opportunities and challenges." - Teresa Roberts, Senior Scientist, Pfizer
"Conference was a good mix of people from various parts of our field (industry, owner operators, vendors, engineering companies)." - Sanjay Shah, Director, Syngene
"This meeting was excellent, bringing in new concepts and presenting pipeline strategies for future pharmaceutical development." - Jason Ren, Manager, Pharmadule Morimatsu
"A good balance of executive level considerations and in-the-field technical details to inform those in the biopharm industry that operate multiproduct facilities or design flexible production spaces." - Mike Angelastro, Project Officer, US Department of Health and Human Services, BARDA
"This conference addresses opportunities of the future while managing "real life" issues from the present and past." - Uplaksh Kumar, Senior Site Director, Lonza
"It was a timely meeting that addressed the benefits and challenges of flexible facilities and single use bioreactors and the necessity to prepare ourselves for the future." - Tony D'Amore, Vice President, Bioprocess Research & Development North America, Sanofi Pasteur
"Great dialogue on how "adaptable" and flexible designs and facilities are likely to be in the future." - Kevin Lear, Senior Process Engineer, NNE Pharmaplan
"Great collaborative attitudes and discussions with a knowledgeable faculty. Meeting size was good for informal discussions." - Don Young, Senior Product Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific
"Gave me the pulse of the industry on this topic." - Marc Devlaminck, Associate Director, Merck & Company
"Excellent industry overview of new facility and process design concepts including single use, HVAC and automation trends." - Chuck Reed, Associate Director, Engineering, Biogen Idec