A global decline in research and development (R&D) funding combined with a pharmaceuticals marketplace that has never been more competitive is changing the conventional relationship between academia and industry.
Traditionally, each fed off the other; a reasonably straightforward payment for knowledge. But a new model is emerging that brings the skills of each other together, even at the lab level, to collaboratively problem-solve.
Community expectations of medical research are high, and rising, as technology in recent decades has delivered vastly improved treatments and cures. But the science and technology needed to meet these expectations and deliver the next generation of healthcare products and services is now often beyond the resources of any one organisation.
It was this implication for future research that in 2009 brought researchers from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) and the University's Department of Chemical Engineering into a working relationship with technicians from the global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The objective was to combine their considerable separate strengths to overcome hurdles confronting them both in the development and delivery of new pharmaceuticals.
The partnership was formalised in 2010 with the establishment of a $3 million technical collaboration, jointly funded by GSK and the Victorian State Government through its Science Agenda Investment Fund. Announced during the AusBiotech Conference in Melbourne, the collaborative seed funding was described as a strategic investment in new employment opportunities, and Victoria’s knowledge and skills base.
Dr David Morton, associate professor at MIPS, says the partnership has clearly benefited both parties as well as a growing number of current and potential stakeholders. For GSK it has provided much-needed R&D capacity at a time when research funding is under pressure in the global pharmaceutical industry; while Monash has been able to put its considerable research skills to use directly in industry and giving students invaluable industry-based experience.
“This collaboration is a terrific link for us,” says Dr Morton. “To begin with we invested a lot of time talking to GSK people in Melbourne about its needs. The company was facing a difficult environment. Over the past 10 years restructuring in the pharmaceutical industry has led to significant job cuts, so we knew we had to sit down together to find a better way of working.”
“Pharmaceutical companies have been looking for more efficient ways of working,” Dr Morton explains.
Many patents from previously developed drug products have been expiring, allowing drugs to be picked up by generic manufacturers. Without the need to invest in R&D, these companies can sell the drugs at much lower prices.
“And it is much harder to create and innovate new compounds now. An alternative approach for innovation is to improve the dosage form of the medicine, so it is more effectively, efficiently and safely delivered, more convenient for the patient and manufactured in a more cost-effective manner.”
GSK’s Boronia manufacturing plant makes a range of respiratory products, mostly for export. The plant focuses on two technologies – dry powder inhalers (DPI) and blow-fill-seal (BFS) products such as Ventolin Nebules and Ventolin Rotacaps – and also produces the influenza drug Relenza on licence from Biota.
Philip Leslie, site technical lead GSK Australia, says that four years ago when GSK’s Boronia business was under threat from rising costs and the strong Australian dollar, the leadership team came up with a strategy for surviving: grow the business, lower costs and find the best people.
“It was imperative to lower our cost per pack so we employed operational excellence techniques to increase productivity and remove waste,” he says.
“We also actively searched for new markets for our existing products and engaged R&D to develop new products locally. As we reduced our costs our volumes increased. Due to this and our marketing efforts the increased volumes saw a tipping point being reached and this further reduced our costs. As a result the site turned a corner.”
The company made the decision to concentrate on its strengths at Boronia in DPI and aseptic (BFS) processing. BFS technology, which is an advanced antiseptic process, produces a range of container sizes suitable for the delivery of unpreserved, sterile products.
But there still remained the question of "the best people".
“We had many technical challenges and we needed to build a pipeline of talent for the business. This was where the collaboration with Monash provided an ideal solution,” says Mr Leslie.
In turn, MIPS had the opportunity to apply its research expertise to developing new products and delivery methods as well as getting exposure to GSK's operational excellence and to provide students with industry placements and invaluable new learning opportunities.
In situ student projects have included research into energy efficiency, renewable energy, granulation and dry powder process optimisation, and improvement to powder blending methods.
“The funding has allowed us to create jobs through the Monash centre with an emphasis on people who can work across the collaboration,” says Dr Morton. “We’ve also brought in post-doctoral and research staff, from different faculties when we’ve needed specialists.”
In addition to working on improving GSK’s existing processes the collaboration set up two new areas – one developing sterile liquids for BFS products and the other developing liquid formulations for respiratory inhalers.
“We used Monash science to understand and improve the formulations and to support the development of more robust production methods. We then developed a parallel team to work on dry powder inhalers to support the other side of Boronia’s specialisation,” explains Dr Morton.
“In addition, we’ve now got hundreds of students accessing the project, with opportunities to go to GSK on placements, visiting the plant for tours and having GSK experts as visiting lecturers”.
GSK has also taken on Monash University’s new interactive virtual learning product, Pharmatopia. Available online through Second Life, Pharmatopia gives students the opportunity to complete activities in a virtual research and development laboratory. GSK has adopted this worldwide to improve staff learning outcomes.
“This partnership works on so many levels,” says Dr Morton. “We get access to real problems, and GSK can access the world leading scientists and engineers at Monash. We believe the collaborative model is very unusual, and its success is due to the unique group of people around us. Its about bringing together the best people. And most importantly it is about learning.
“Ideas are easy, but real innovation is hard work. Innovation is about the best people creating processes to select and bring those ideas to fruition.”
GSK recently announced it would invest A$60 million to expand its Boronia manufacturing site, allowing it to potentially double its current BFS manufacturing capacity and create 58 new jobs by 2017.
The investment will also facilitate the creation of a pilot-scale industrialisation facility for the development of new products. The latest news is that GSK will build on the initial State Government Science Agenda Investment Fund contribution and support the collaboration for a further three years.
“This is fantastic news for all those involved, and will allow us to deliver further innovations in terms of products and learning,” Dr Morton says. “Above all, we want an exciting future for Australian pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
