Institute and industry collaboration
The Shannon ABC Technology Gateway is a collaboration between the Institute of Technology, Tralee and Limerick Institute of Technology - here’s how the centre has made an impact on LEO Pharma
Shannon ABC Technology Gateway and Leo Pharma & WiSAR, Letterkenny IT and Finn Lough Bubble Domesa & Focus on LIT
With its Irish office based in Dublin, LEO Pharma (www.leopharma.co.uk) are the preferred dermatology care partner improving people’s lives around the world. The company helps people to achieve healthy skin, and their product portfolio includes treatments for psoriasis, actinic keratosis, skin infections, eczema and thrombosis. Their products are marketed in over 100 countries with 4,800 employees located in 61 countries.
LEO Pharma are committed to being at the forefront of dermatological (skin) and thrombotic (blood clotting) care through the delivery of insights-led innovation and investment. The company had an internal biotechnology project which was proposed to improve their analytical and process capabilities. However, due to limited internal resources, they sought the external expertise to assist in key aspects of the project.
Shannon ABC have specific expertise in the area of enzymology and together with the Principal Investigator of the project, dedicated a specific research scientist to work on this project with LEO Pharma. With the equipment and expertise available at Shannon ABC, a single protein was isolated from a complex mix, was purified and concentrated and provided to LEO Pharma at the concentration required.
While this was a reasonably straightforward project, the availability of expertise, equipment and skilled researchers at Shannon ABC meant that LEO Pharma could outsource a key part of their research and development process with confidence.
“This was an incredibly successful project that has resulted in supporting the continuous improvement of analytics and process understanding of our products at LEO Pharma,” says Dr Alison Winger, Process Development Scientist at LEO Pharma.