Turkish company selects GE Healthcare to improve local, regional access to biopharmaceuticals

LONDON / ISTANBUL

Arven Pharmaceuticals, a Toksöz Group Company, has said it selected GE Healthcare’s FlexFactory manufacturing platform to expand production capacity at its facility in the northwestern province of Kırklareli, in a statement on Feb. 2. 

With this expanded capacity, Arven will support local healthcare needs by bringing biopharmaceuticals to the Turkish and surrounding markets faster, whilst also opening up European markets through the FlexFactory’s proven track record in meeting global regulations and quality standards, according to the statement. 

Already Europe’s seventh largest pharmaceutical market, Turkey plans to further grow and transform its healthcare sector, reaching 60 percent local production for its pharmaceutical medicines by 2023.

Arven said it opted to expand its production capacity in Turkey with GE’s FlexFactory platform, which is based on integrated single-use technologies enabling flexible and efficient biomanufacturing operations. The resulting productivity improvements will support Arven’s biosimilar pipeline moving through the clinic to regulatory approval, it added. 

“We used a range of different criteria to make our decision to employ single use systems for mammalian cell-based bioproduction. This included flexibility of systems, strength of local organization, technical support, speed, and collaborative work structure. GE Healthcare’s standards, and the FlexFactory platform, met our requirements. The project evaluation time was long enough to assess GE regarding our needs for biosimilar development and production. Recently, Turkey has been focusing on local production of biotechnological products. Therefore, we believe that business opportunities among the companies with similar goals in the industry will increase by utilizing single use technologies,” said İrem Yenice, the head of biotechnology and R&D director at Arven Pharmaceuticals.

“Our new Fast Trak Service Center in Istanbul allows us to work closely with Arven, one of the country’s key biopharma companies, to help deliver increased capacity as well as supporting Turkey’s growing pharma industry requirements more rapidly. Turkey’s desire to boost local manufacturing capacity is an industry need we are hearing echoed across the globe. Local production capability is a crucial element in providing national healthcare systems with the vital medicines to address growing patient needs. We are excited to contribute to Arven’s development by delivering a robust and flexible biomanufacturing solution, which also includes final qualification and training,” said Sven Henrichwark, the general manager at GE Healthcare Life Sciences.

GE opened their Fast Trak Service Center in Istanbul in March 2016. Based in GE’s Turkey Innovation Center, the laboratory is well-located to support the region’s growing industry, and help position Turkey as a global research, development and manufacturing hub.