Tánaiste launches world first in pharmaceutical R&D collaboration Website

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Coughlan T.D., has today (Friday November 6th, 2009) unveiled the world’s first Pharmaceutical Best Practice Portal www.BPX.ie designed By Cork based company Digital Crew Ltd for the pharmaceutical industry and academic institutions. The site has been developed through the Solid State Pharmaceutical Cluster (SSPC), a collaborative group of Ireland’s leading pharmaceutical companies and third level institutions and funded through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and led by the University of Limerick (UL).

Launching the portal, the Tánaiste said “This is a landmark day for scientific research in Ireland and, indeed, on a global scale. The development of this secure online facility enables unprecedented collaboration among a range of industrial and academic partners, towards establishing best practice in the field of pharmaceutical compound crystallisation. This proactive and visionary arrangement illustrates the collective determination among Ireland’s scientific community to pool resources and expertise towards achieving far-reaching outcomes of benefit to all stakeholders. This unparalleled level of engagement potentially signals the genesis of a new kind of multi-sectoral partnership which, it is hoped, will be adopted by other disciplines in the wider science and engineering arena, both here and internationally. The momentum generated by the creation of the Best Practice Crystallization Portal would strongly indicate that such innovative online alliances are certainly achievable”.
 
The pharmaceutical industry in Ireland employs 20,000+ and last year accounted for €44 billion in exports or 51% of exports to the economy. The aim of a forum of this kind is to provide R&D support for the pharmaceutical industry and academic research by developing strategic partnerships and sharing best practice techniques.

The Solid State Pharmaceutical Cluster (SSPC) brings together leading researchers from: Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli-Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Roche, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Clarochem, Covidien, Schering Plough together with counterparts from UL, UCC, NUIG, TCD and UCD.

Professor Kieran Hodnett, Scientific Director of SSPC at UL said; “The launch of the BPX portal is not only a world first in collaboration within the pharmaceutical community but it also further reinforces Ireland’s reputation as a leader and innovator in a sector which plays such a vital role in our economy. This project is an excellent example of academic institutions and industry partners working together in a collaborative manner to address a specific need and generating knowledge based solutions to a collective problem.”


The Best Practice Crystallization (BPX.ie) site is the result of a need highlighted by industrial partners to create a collaborative environment which would focus on best practice techniques.  This in turn will assist fundamental research, while supporting the sector locally within Ireland in it’s strategy to move up the R&D knowledge and value chain. Through the SSPC cluster group the strategic needs of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Ireland can be aligned with the research of our institutions, therefore ensuring Ireland develops and maintains a strong profile of leading edge innovation within the industry at large.

Dr. Stephen Simpson, Director, Life Science, Science Foundation Ireland, stated that “The SFI Strategic Research Cluster model clearly demonstrates the benefits of pooling resources and is creating new opportunities which can potentially accelerate commercial outputs and other beneficial consequences. The Best Practice Crystallization portal (BPX.ie) will create a focus point for industry and academia and build further on momentum generated by SSPC around its specialized discipline.”