Biopharma Manufacturers Shouldnât Rush When âGoing Digitalâ
Digitizing manufacturing activities requires strong management and a stepwise approach to implementations [SolStock/Getty Images]
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Digitization is a hot topic in biopharma. In recent years, AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Sanofi have each unveiled plans to use data to link drug development, manufacturing, and distribution, citing speed and efficiency as motivation for the investments.
These investments show biopharma is finally recognizing the benefits of digital manufacturing, according to Trent Munro, PhD, professor, University of Queensland, who told
GEN, âIt has turned from hobby to life-blood in recent years. Most established biotechs with commercial manufacturing operations now have a digital technologies group of some sort within the process development or operations group.â
Victoria s success in controlling it by social restrictions is probably also what prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose his own recent hard lockdown in England, Professor Purcell said.
The variant seen in Victoria, known as N501Y, has several key mutations also seen in the British and South African variants.
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âSome of the viruses that came out of hotel quarantine in Victoria had some of these key mutations,â said Professor Purcell.
Victoria s Health Department declined to comment.
Boris Johnson.
Credit:AP
The British variant, known as B.1.1.7, emerged in September and appears to sport an unusually large number of changes to its genetic code. A second variant, 501.V2, emerged independently in South Africa at about the same time with similar mutations.
United in science
UQ COVID-19 vaccine project co-leader Professor Paul Young.
Image: Anjanette Webb
Image: Anjanette Webb
While the UQ COVID-19 vaccine won’t to be rolled out to fight this global pandemic, the University’s researchers have made remarkable progress, and they are confident their powerful vaccine platform will be ready for when the world faces another health crisis.
For 11 months, the UQ COVID-19 vaccine development team worked around the clock in the bright spotlight of a world waiting for hope.
As the team reflects on December’s news that its vaccine candidate will not progress to the next phase of human trials, they take comfort that the long days in the lab and nights collaborating with partners in different time zones were not in vain.
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