GCRF Biopharma

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NBF group Nov 2018

South East Asia Research Collaboration (SEARC)

Establishment of biopharmaceutical and animal vaccine production capacity in Thailand and neighbouring South East Asian countries

Our goal is to bring about a permanent step change in the ability of Thailand, and eventually other SE Asian countries, to produce a range of advanced medicines and vaccines for the treatment of major human and animal diseases.

Project aims:

  • To produce life-saving biopharmaceuticals in Thailand on a large scale, resulting in both increased access and reduced costs, enabling greater reach both within Thailand and across the ASEAN region.
  • To produce a suite of high value veterinary vaccines against major porcine diseases with reduced manufacturing costs, resulting in a sustained reduction in livestock losses.
  • To establish state of the art technical capacity for recombinant protein production by Thai groups, which can be expanded upon and consolidated for future growth.
  • To give neighbouring SE Asian countries full access to the programme’s technology and expertise in order to effectively plan similar ventures.

This project brings together Thai groups at the forefront of the country’s new programme to produce recombinant proteins, UK groups that have developed state of the art E. coli-  and CHO cell-based expressed systems as well as down-stream processing and analytic tools, and Bangkok-based UK specialists in SE Asian healthcare, economic policies and dissemination tools.

This work is funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund and will contribute towards several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

  • No poverty (SDG1)
  • Zero hunger (SDG2)
  • Good health and well-being (SDG3)
  • Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG9)

For more information see our project brief:

Project brief (Thai)

Project brief (English)