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WHP completes cancer-fighting facility in record time

WH Partnership (WHP), with its headquarters in the north east of England, has helped Scottish biotechnology scientists move one step closer to extending the life expectancy of cancer sufferers. WHP, one of the UK’s leading cleanroom design, engineering and construction companies, has recently completed TC BioPharm’s (TCB), new clinical manufacturing facility in Glasgow, which processes patients’ own cells in an innovative treatment to target and destroy cancer.

Constructed to comply with stringent UK Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations, the 3,500sq.ft facility took just 12 weeks to build from start to finish. It includes two cleanrooms, quality control suites and development laboratories designed to support the manufacture of clinical grade product. The facility has just been granted a license to produce human cell therapy products by the Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

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, TCB’s operations director, commented: “The team has done an amazing job building and commissioning our facility in record time. Not only have WHP built an impressive GMP facility in the heart of Scotland, they 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 clean room systems that can be located in strategic areas to support planned treatment regimes.”

WHP was formed in 2006 from two established companies that have worked in the process and clean room sectors for more than 30 years, which combined their skills to provide a total integrated design and build service to its clients. It operates globally with multinational companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and personal care industries. It has a Head Office and Technical Centre in Gateshead and offices in Bristol, Scotland and Egypt. The company also has a successful track record of working with award-winning entrepreneurial, owner-managed businesses in the region, building facilities for The Specials Laboratory, SCM Pharma and Quantum Specials.

TCB’s technology uses patients’ own immune cells grown in culture to target cancer and has a safe history based on the treatment of numerous patients by Medinet in Japan. TCB plans to treat the first cohort of patients during 2015, working alongside established cancer clinics throughout the UK.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Deborah Anderson .