Biotech manufacturing facility opens in Brisbane

ENTRI, a purpose-built multimodal facility which will enable biotech companies to manufacture products onsite, is now officially open in Brisbane.

Located at the Translational Research Institute (TRI) Alexandra Hospital campus, ENTRI provides infrastructure for the development and manufacturing of next-generation treatments and therapies. Spanning four floors and 7000 m² — and including five segregated cleanrooms and 19 state-of-the-art wet laboratories — the facility also provides high level technical capabilities to tenants.

The >$100 million facility was funded by the Queensland Government and TRI, with additional funding from the Australian Government. The Queensland Government contribution of over $80 million has been particularly helpful in terms of building local biomanufacturing capability and strengthening the pathway from research through to clinical manufacturing.

TRI CEO Professor Maher Gandhi described ENTRI as “the most exciting thing that has happened in Australian biomanufacturing in decades”, saying the facility would remove barriers to entry into the market for many biotech companies when it would otherwise be too expensive.

“Instead of having to send drug and vaccine manufacturing overseas, small and medium-sized biotech companies will now be able to manufacture right here in Queensland,” he said.

“We can help these companies scale up. Our world-class cleanrooms, built to highly stringent standards, enable Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials, which are needed to demonstrate a product is safe and effective for treatments.”

ENTRI was officially last week by Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jarrod Bleijie, who said the facility gives researchers and biomedical businesses greater access to the specialised manufacturing capability they need to compete globally.

“The biomedical sector is a priority industry for the Crisafulli government,” Bleijie said.

“In addition to the funding to support building this facility, the Crisafulli government’s $180.6 million Sovereign Industry Development Fund is also supporting one of its first tenants.

“A world-class biotechnology manufacturing facility right here in Brisbane will ultimately benefit Queensland patients by ensuring they receive access to medical breakthroughs and new therapies in record time.”

ENTRI will create around 500 highly skilled science jobs and will not only benefit Australian companies, but also foreign companies based in Australia. Indeed, the state government is investing $7.7 million through its Sovereign Industry Development Fund to support New Zealand-based BioOra’s planned automated clinical and commercial-scale CAR T-cell manufacturing suite.

“This facility allows industry partners to maintain control of their own manufacturing and scheduling, while operating within an ecosystem where the ENTRI team will offer wrap-around technical support,” said TRI Director of Biomanufacturing David Crowley.

“This will improve commercialisation and the speed of getting products to market for biotech and medtech companies.

“Industry partners will also be able to take advantage of the reduced cost of development programs through Australia’s R&D tax incentive.”

TRI Board Chair Emeritus Professor David Siddle concluded that ENTRI will deliver “a new chapter of biomedical innovation for Australia”, noting that its location on the TRI campus makes TRI “one of the largest end-to-end translational research facilities in the Southern Hemisphere”.

“ENTRI also represents a significant step forward for Australia’s medical research sector as a whole, strengthening our capacity to develop, manufacture and deliver innovative therapies that improve patients’ lives,” he said.

Image credit: TRI.