GEA Diessel, a world leader in large scale bioprocessing solutions, and Applikon Biotechnology, the market leader in small scale bioreactor systems, announced a strategic alliance to market, design, produce and install turn-key bioreactor projects from laboratory up to production scale. The companies, capitalizing on their respective world-class capabilities, plan to provide enterprises with a one-stop, one-call approach to supply complete solutions. These solutions comprise a full range of bioprocess solutions from screening bioreactor systems via laboratory and pilot plant to the full large scale production systems including plant utilities, down-stream process solutions, control systems and software that tie the systems together. This cooperation results in an alliance capable of offering the widest range of bioreactor systems currently available in the global market.

Integrated Solutions for Pharmaceutical Industry

GEA Diessel and Applikon Biotechnology plan to jointly market their turn-key solution for complete bioreactor facilities that utilize Applikon’s expertise in smaller scale bioreactor systems and in advanced industrial control systems and supervisory control software with GEA Diessel’s global leadership in large scale bioreactor systems and solutions for liquid preparation and storage. The alliance enables biopharmaceutical customers to take advantage of the know-how and expertise of both companies, with the added simplicity of a single point of contact for complete projects. This cooperation will be focusing on helping customers with common processing challenges:

• Scale-up from laboratory to production scale

• One control platform from laboratory scale to production scale

• One integral SCADA software solution from development to production

• A complete range of validatable and uniform documented and tested systems

• Local service and support

The two companies plan to develop an integrated service program to target (international) biopharmaceutical companies that are adding or are expanding production locations.

“This alliance positions GEA Diessel and Applikon Biotechnology to offer seamless, end-to-end bioprocess solutions and a single point of contact approach that we think many of our respective customers will find appealing,” said Heinz Waltersdorf, Managing Director of GEA Diessel. “We are excited to work together with Applikon Biotechnology to create new opportunities.”

“As validation demands for biotech companies increase, enterprises face increasing complexity in realizing new production facilities. Applikon Biotechnology and GEA Diessel, working together, can help our customers facing these challenges by offering high quality and reliable bioprocess solutions,” said Arthur Oudshoorn, Managing Director of Applikon Biotechnology. “Applikon Biotechnology and GEA Diessel, with our combined expertise and a proven track record of supplying top quality equipment, can help our customers to reduce cost and risk, accelerate project implementation, realize better return on capital investments, and most importantly, enable them to focus on their core business objectives – developing, producing and marketing pharmaceutical products.”

About Applikon Biotechnology

Applikon Biotechnology BV (Schiedam, Netherlands) is a privately owned leading supplier of bioreactor systems for the pharmaceutical and the biotechnological market. We specialize in novel technologies in cultivation systems, measurement and control for the biopharmaceu¬ti¬cal industry. In the past years, Applikon Biotechnology has built up a broad portfolio of unique bioprocessing devices for both cell culture and microbial cultivation, and this has considerably set us apart from the competition.

About GEA Diessel

GEA Diessel is owned by GEA Group AG, a global group of companies specialising in process engineering activities. GEA Diessel is a leader in liquid processing technology and a member of GEA Process Engineering Division, which is represented in more than 50 countries and retains a total of about 3,000 employees.

The product portfolio offered by GEA Diessel comprises process systems for the production of liquid products for the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. The range includes complete plants and components for the production of syrup, suspensions, parenterals, and blood plasma as well as plants for the production, storage, and distribution of clean utilities. Systems for the preparation of media, fermentation, and purification for the production of vaccines, therapeutic and biotechnologically manufactured agents are also part of the scope. The performances reach from design engineering and development of User Requirement Specifications via detail engineering and construction up to the delivery of turnkey solutions, also in modular skid design, under consideration of all relevant standards and regulations.