WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University, in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company and Merck & Co. Inc., announced Friday (Jan. 17) the launch of the Young Institute Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Consortium, a collaborative effort to pioneer advances in making medicines.
Operating within Purdue’s William D. and Sherry L. Young Institute for Advanced Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals, consortium partners will revolutionize pharmaceutical manufacturing with a focus on sterile injectables and innovative aseptic manufacturing technology to ensure quality, safety and compliance.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a key component of Purdue’s One Health initiative, which advances knowledge and innovation related to animal, human and environmental health and well-being through novel interdisciplinary research and industry partnerships.
“We’re on the frontier of Pharma 4.0 — autonomous experimentation, advanced robotics, big data, smart factories, AI and machine learning,” said Karen Plaut, Purdue’s executive vice president for research. “Through this partnership, we will have a global impact in solving complex problems in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem.”
The consortium will elevate and enhance pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical advanced manufacturing by developing disruptive innovative technologies, autonomous systems, and smart AI and digital technology, together with industrially relevant education and training for the next generation of scientific leaders and researchers. The collaboration also underscores a commitment to onshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing while bolstering domestic production.
“Addressing pharma manufacturing challenges requires a significant advancement in technology. With an alliance of this caliber, the consortium will explore greater emphasis on both current and future advanced chemistries and accelerate research of innovative discoveries,” said Elizabeth Topp, director of the Young Institute.
Topp, who will serve as the new consortium’s director, is a professor in the Department of Industrial and Molecular Pharmaceutics and the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering and is an expert in improving the shelf life and stability of pharmaceuticals.