2013 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Program Overall Winner

2013 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Program Names Novartis’s United States Flu Cell Culture Facility as Overall Winner

(TAMPA, FLORIDA, USA, 4 November 2013) – ISPE announced during the Plenary Session at its 2013 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. USA, that Novartis’s United States Flu Cell Culture Facility is the Overall Winner of the 2013 Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) program.

Novartis’s United States Flu Cell Culture Facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, USA represents a breakthrough use of innovative technology and development of a large scale manufacturing process to produce seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines. This innovative process breaks with the 50-year tradition of utilizing eggs for the method of growing the virus in favor of a ground-breaking cell culture technology that offers many potential advantages over the traditional manufacturing process for flu vaccines. These advantages include process raw materials that are readily available and not threatened by pandemic events and closed-system bioreactors that reduce the required biosafety level for the manufacturing space.

The proprietary technology at Novartis’s United States Flu Cell Culture Facility enables flexible and fast start-up of vaccine manufacturing, offering rapid response to potential pandemic influenza threats while fulfilling the need for seasonal influenza vaccines. This project introduces a promising new path for vaccine production, and exemplifies the type of advancements in pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing technology that the FOYA program seeks to recognize. In honor of this accomplishment, Novartis is named the 2013 Facility of the Year Awards Overall Winner

More information about Novartis’s winning project, as well as the Facility of the Year Awards program in general, can be found at www.FacilityoftheYear.org.

About the Facility of the Year Awards Program
Sponsored by ISPE, the Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) program recognizes state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing projects that utilize new and innovative technologies to enhance the delivery of a quality project, as well as reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines. Now in its tenth year, the awards program effectively spotlights the accomplishments, shared commitment, and dedication of individuals in companies worldwide to innovate and advance pharmaceutical manufacturing technology for the benefit of all global consumers.