6 March 2019


ELANCO SPEKE OPERATIONS


FUTURENORTH Elanco becomes independent


Elanco Speke continues focus on biotechnology


One of the most historic manufactur- ing plants in Merseyside is to undergo a change in ownership. Elanco is a global health company which develops products to prevent and treat disease in food animals and pets in more than 90 countries. Elanco became a standalone


company in September 2018 having previously been a global subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company. The company have grown to be number four in the animal health industry. It is still very much ‘business as


usual’ at one of the 12 manufacturing plants based in Speke, Liverpool. Elanco Speke Operations will con-


tinue to produce its range of fermenta- tion based animal health products for global markets. It will also continue to manufacture the therapeutic protein, Human Growth Hormone, for Eli Lilly under contract and maintain the increasingly important process development activities, particularly in the biotechnology area. Speke Operations enjoys a remark-


able history. It has played an impor- tant role in the economy of Liverpool since it started life as the world’s biggest penicillin manufacturer during the Second World War, saving the lives of not only British troops fighting over- seas, but UK residents back home. Today, Elanco Speke Operations


is very much embedded in the local community providing high value, long terms jobs. Investing circa £250m on site in the last decade, the company plays a major part in UK overseas trade by exporting 95% of what it makes. It also actively supports several local charities in the area of “hunger initiatives” and science based educa- tion programmes with local schools and universities.


THE FACTORY was originally built by the UK Government ‘Ministry of Sup- ply’ which acquired 12 acres of land in Speke shortly after the D Day landings at a cost of a then staggering £1m. The bulk production of penicillin requires large scale fermentation processes, similar to those used in the brewing industry. Since none of the traditional pharmaceutical manufacturers pos- sessed this expertise, the Distillers Company (Biochemicals), was brought in to run the site and eventually acquired it two years later. Distillers ran the factory from the


end of the war until the 60s when the site was sold to the US based Eli Lilly for whom the factory had previ- ously manufactured antibiotics. Ever since, the plant on Fleming Road – named after Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin who visited the factory in Speke and was said to have been moved to tears by what he saw – has been at the forefront of drug manufacture first for humans and now in animal health. Speke became even more important


to Eli Lilly when it produced clinical trial material for biosynthetic insulin which ensured the US Company became a world leader in the supply of this critical, life-saving medicine. Building on the expertise gained in


pioneering the insulin manufactur- ing process, the Speke site started to


11


Elanco launches on the NY stock exchange


develop and manufacture Human Growth Hormone (Humatrope) in the mid-1980s. Humatrope is used by both children and adults to supple- ment the naturally occurring growth hormone, secreted by the pituitary gland, when the patient does not produce sufficient quantities to sustain healthy growth. The current facility was built in


1995, and was soon able to double its capacity through a series of innova- tions identified by the Speke scientists. As a result, in 1999, Speke Operations became the global supplier for Humat- rope, providing the drug product for all Eli Lilly worldwide markets. Expansion continued, and in 2008,


a new purification facility was opened at Speke. This multi million pound


The future


The future success of the Elanco Speke Operations facility will be heavily influenced by its historic expertise in the manufacture of innovative products based on biotechnology. Already accounting for 25% of activity at site,


the team at Speke is in the vanguard in terms of process development activities as the Biotech development hub for Elanco. This in part at least is due to Speke’s involvement


with the scale-up and commercialisation of Imrestor, the first animal health biotech drug developed internally by Elanco. This new product introduction was enabled by a multi-million pound investment to build a state


of the art downstream purification facility, where future animal health biotech products will be manufactured to meet the high quality standards demanded of all such drug products. The facility has extensive clean room suites, and employs modern “plug and play” skid mounted equipment and disposables technology to maximise flexibility and process economies. The Speke site has also invested in laboratory


and pilot plant facilities, enabling them to effectively conduct process scale-up trials and also to manufacture field study (the animal equivalent of clinical trial) materials. Effectively this means they could make early batches to go straight into animal


trials to establish viability. The end result is that the Speke team is working on several new animal drugs they hope to bring to market in the shortest possible time scale. The investment in animal health biotech at


Elanco Speke has enabled the Speke development team to grow to over 20 process development scientists which has turned them into a force to be reckoned in the animal drug R & D field. The final piece of the jigsaw on which Elanco


Speke is planning to build its future success is using its fermentation capability to produce enzymatic additives for feed mix to maximise the nutritional value in the animal feed.


facility was notable in that it was designed, built and tested in sections in Sweden, and the completed modules were brought to site to be assembled as the finished facility – essentially like a giant Lego model. The Speke site has now been manufacturing this important human health product for over 30 years.


ELANCO SPEKE is also breaking new ground by adopting the latest biotech techniques to meet today’s ever- increasing demand in terms of health for both livestock and pets. On the bio- tech front, the company has focused initially on animals which provide a source of protein for humans, the first in its biotech product range being Imrestor, a drug to prevent mastitis in


cows, a common complaint with seri- ous consequences for the animals. Since these biotech products are


“The growth opportunities in biotech are very exciting for the Elanco Speke site” Lindsay McDonald


produced using microbial fermen- tation processes – and Elanco in Speke has a great track record in the technique – this means that its future success seems assured (see panel). Team leader for Biotech manufac-


turing at Speke, Lindsay McDonald summarised her thoughts on the future of the site: “Our 35 years’ experience in biotech manufactur- ing, in combination with the strong connection between development and manufacturing ensures an ‘End in Mind’ mentality to new product intro- ductions. The growth opportunities in biotech are very exciting for the Elanco Speke site.”


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