NIBRT Publishes 2017 Annual Report
The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) has published its 2017 Annual Report, announcing substantial growth across all areas of research and training activity. 2017 was another excellent year for NIBRT, a year which saw activities continue to grow on the back of a robust and thriving biopharma sector. In particular, NIBRT research activity expanded significantly with the addition of new Principal Investigators to the team.
The biopharma industry continued its impressive growth throughout 2017 and despite headwinds related to weak global economies, the challenges with R&D productivity, drug pricing and Brexit, the global biopharma sector remains on course to deliver annual growth rates of 6.5% and total revenues exceeding $1Trn by 2022. On a national level, this growth was mirrored in 2017 by significant investment decisions from Merck, Janssen, Eli Lilly, Regeneron and others to further increase their advanced biopharma manufacturing capacities and capabilities in Ireland.
NIBRT’s training activity continued at an exceptionally busy pace through the year, not only for the start-up and expansion companies, but also for services companies to the sector with a total of 19,000 training days delivered to over 4,000 trainees.
Research capability continued to grow with the addition of Prof. Niall Barron to the NIBRT team. 2017 saw a number of strategic collaborations coupled with significant state-of-art equipment additions to the NIBRT facility. The NIBRT-GE Single Use Technology Centre of Excellence was completed and SUT training commenced. The Thermo-Fisher collaboration was further expanded and continues to provide next generation bioanalytical solutions to industry. A collaboration with Pfizer, Thermo-Fisher and NIBRT collaboration was also successfully commenced.
Commenting on the Report, NIBRT Chairman Brendan O’Callaghan stated: “I am delighted to report that 2017 saw NIBRT train a record number of trainees at the facility and continue to build a reputation globally for the quality of its research and training solutions and their relevance to industry. This success is of course not possible without the commitment and dedication of the NIBRT team, the strong support of my Board colleagues and the many positive collaborations with our academic, industry and government partners.”
