WH Partnership (WHP), a specialist design, engineering and construction company headquartered in Gateshead, Tyne-and-Wear, UK, has helped Scottish biotechnology scientists move one step closer to helping cancer sufferers extend their life expectancy.
WHP has recently completed TC BioPharm’s (TCB), new clinical manufacturing facility at Maxim Park, Glasgow, which processes patients’ own immune cells in an innovative treatment to target cancer and viral infections.
Built to comply with UK Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations, the multi-million pound 3,500ft2 facility took 12 weeks to build from start to finish. It includes two cleanrooms, as well as process development laboratories and quality control suites. The facility has also been granted a licence to produce human cell therapy products by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
TCB plans to treat the first cohort of patients during 2015, working alongside established cancer clinics throughout Scotland.
WHP’s Managing Director, Nigel Hall, said: 'We have gained a strong reputation for our cleanroom design and construction in the biotechnology industry and it is pleasing to demonstrate our expertise on a project as important as this one – especially so close to home.'
Angela Scott, Operations Director at TCB, added: 'The team has done an amazing job building and commissioning our facility in record time. Not only has WHP built an impressive GMP facility in the heart of Scotland, it also ensured that costs were managed in a supportive and proactive manner.
'As TCB’s clinical outreach extends beyond the UK, WHP and TCB will jointly evaluate logistics of facility expansion on a geographical basis, using a combination of modular and mobile cleanroom systems that can be located in strategic areas to support planned treatment regimes.'