Mtech Press Releases

MEDIA ADVISORY
May 11, 2005

Omnia Biologics and University of Maryland Bioprocess Scale-Up Facility Team to Offer Start-Ups Biopharmaceutical Processing and Manufacturing

COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Biologics contract manufacturer Omnia Biologics Inc., and the Bioprocess Scale-Up Facility agreed to jointly provide services for the manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products.

The agreement provides access to the BSF to help refine processes for producing biopharmaceuticals, while Omnia provides Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing of preclinical and early stage trial material.

“The opportunity to collaborate with the world’s premier academic bioprocessing facility is a great asset to our customers,” said Dale VanderPutten, CEO for Omnia Biologics. “It’s a great match of services for the local Maryland start-up biotech community because there aren’t other locations in the country where you have this seamless integration--where you can develop the processes and then have a place to go to do the clinical manufacturing. Most small companies don’t have the financial or personnel resources to do manufacturing; they’re into drug development.

 “The combination of the BSF scale-up fermentation and training expertise and Omnia’s cGMP processes, class 100 sterile fill-finish, and BSL-3 suites provides a unique resource to biotech and academic investigators and reinforces Maryland as a leader in biotechnology,” said VanderPutten.

About Omnia Biologics

Omnia offers services in the areas of process development, GMP manufacture, and fill-finish for preclinical and Phase I clinical programs for therapeutics that do not have effective or known manufacturing protocols.  These include autologous therapeutics, new gene therapeutic platforms, and stem cell technologies.  The company seeks and has established relationships with both biopharmaceutical companies and academic investigators throughout the world.     

About the BSF

The Bioprocess Scale-Up Facility is the University of Maryland Biotech Program's modern bioprocessing laboratory dedicated to the development and scale-up of biotechnology products and processes. With more than 700 fermentations conducted since 1998, the BSF has accelerated the R&D of local biotechnology leaders such as Human Genome Sciences, MedImmune, Martek Biosciences, and Digene Corporation.

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