Biotechnology
Speciality Chemicals Magazine June 2009 47
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and the CPI is working directly with six of them. This is one
of several FP6 projects that the CPI has worked on.
In the same vein, an NIR monitor has been trialled recent-
ly. This technique is widely used in the petrochemicals indus-
try but relatively little in fermentation. Even Big Pharma com-
panies rarely use it or make the optimum use of it when they
do. "We hope by developing products to help companies
understand processes better," Walton remarks.
One slightly unusual feature that is set to one side in the
main facility is two 70 litre marine fermenters that were donat-
ed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). With these, the NIBF is devel-
oping the capability to ferment salt-water organisms such as
halophiles in sterile conditions for applications in pharmaceu-
ticals and nutraceuticals.
GSK itself has not yet used the marine fermenters, though
it has worked on other projects at the CPI. One company that
has used them is start-up Aquapharm, which develops novel
antibiotics to treat gram-negative and gram-positive infections
and isolates natural products from marine biodiversity for
applications in pharmaceuticals, though also in cosmetics, per-
sonal care, nutrition and biocatalysis under non-traditional fer-
mentation conditions.
"Over the past few years we have developed a lot of knowl-
edge in the area of marine fermentation. Our strategy is to
develop know-how and protocols to avoid the issues that arise
from halide steel cracking," Dowle comments.
The facilities are designed along GMP lines in order to
give pharmaceutical customers the scope to use it. However,
it does not actually run to GMP standards and cannot carry
out clinical trials because of the need to serve other markets
and small customers who cannot afford to operate to GMP
standards.
The main markets the NIBF have served to date have been
pharmaceuticals (for very early stage trials), fine chemicals,
nutraceuticals, food, flavours and fragrances, speciality chem-
icals, biofuels and renewable chemicals in general. The latter
two, Dowle notes, have become a much larger part of the cus-
tomer mix than originally expected and this is a significant
factor in both the ongoing expansion and further expansion
that the CPI would like to carry out.
The four projects going through the NIBF during Q2 this
year are strong indications of its diversity. They include a crit-
ical enzyme for a speciality chemicals firm, an unspecified
project for a major agrochemicals firm and trials by an SME
for a novel probe in partnership with a Big Pharma company,
with funding from a biofuels company.
The last is a scale-up project for a biocatalyst from the
Centre of Excellence for Biocatalysis, Biotransformations and
Biocatalytic Manufacture at Manchester University (CoEBio3),
with whom the NIBF has a partnership to offer gene-to-kilo
capabilities in molecular biology
Developing the original NIBF facility, Dowle adds, derives
in part from work the CPI did alongside Ian Shott, CEO of
Excelsyn, and has continued as part of the national Innovation
& Growth Team on industrial biotechnology. On Shott's
advice, the CPI recently asked the Department for Business,
Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) to build the NIBF to
a larger scale with the capacity to pre-process a range of dif-
ferent materials, new molecules, platforms and special mole-
cules. A response is expected shortly.
"The aim of all this is to put the UK at the heart of the
implementation of industrial biotechnology. We have a lot of
good people, companies and ideas in the UK but we need
help to take the next step. The Innovation & Growth Team
feels that this could be part of a package of measures that
could make that possible," Dowle says.
There are vacant bays for expansion at the site of similar
size. Dowle would also like to put in larger-scale ferementers
and/or build further capabilities in upstream and downstream
processing. This will, of course, depend on the funding avail-
able but the NIBF has been operating more or less flat out
since it opened nearly two years ago
The CPI itself dates back to 1 April 2004, when it employed
three people: Dowle, managing director Nigel Perry and
Perry's PA. Since then, a complete organisation has been built
up, with funding from One North-East, the Northern Way and
other public sources including EU money. Overall it has spent
over 70 million on projects over the past five years.
The stated aim of the CPI is "the creation of a world-class
innovation centre supporting the process industry". It brings
together companies, universities, technology expertise and scale-
up assets to develop new products and processes for the process
industry, which is extremely strong in north-east England.
"Our vision statement might sound arrogant," says Dowle
"but we now employ more than 100 people and our growth
has come about from the market-focused nature of the proj-
ects we do. Without an industrial partner, we won't do it. We
provide a concept based on market need, we test and devel-
op processes on our assets and we deliver value."
Part of the thinking is that the CPI should be able to offer
something that would be beyond the assets of a single com-
pany, so as to mitigate risk. "Our business model is not that
of a CRO, which confuses some people, nor do we work
towards taking a licence out. We want to find a way that works
for us and our partner," Dowle says.
The legal status of the CPI is unusual. CPI Ltd. is a not-for-
profit company that is not permitted to accrue reserves and is
not subject to de minimis rules. Thus it can bring in funds
without the same state aid compliance rules as a private com-
pany. Its wholly-owned trading subsidiary, CPI Innovation
Services Ltd. brings in income and repays its initial investment
at market rates so as not to behave in an anti-competitive way.
Below this are the 11 subsidiary spin-offs and joint ventures
that have been founded to date.
Utility station in the
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