GE Healthcare’s FlexFactory to power Dr Reddy’s biosimilar expansion plans

GE Healthcare announced that Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited will install India’s first-ever FlexFactory, a single-use manufacturing platform to expand the biologics production capacity at its facility in Hyderabad, India.

FlexFactory will make Dr. Reddy’s biopharmaceutical manufacturing set-up more flexible and efficient, strengthening the company’s position in the global biosimilars market and allowing Dr. Reddy’s to continue increasing patient access across the world for biotech-based therapies.

The new FlexFactory will help Dr. Reddy’s increase its capacity to meet both the expected growth of its currently marketed biosimilars as well as support the launch of a significant portfolio of new biosimilar products in the years to come.

With FlexFactory, Dr. Reddy’s will be able to increase its manufacturing capacity swiftly as the overall project set-up timeline for FlexFactory is typically 9 to 12 months.

FlexFactory enables Dr. Reddy’s transition from stainless steel to single-use technologies that bring enhanced flexibility and efficiency into their manufacturing set-up. Single-use technologies facilitate multi-product manufacturing and improve productivity by increasing the number of lots manufactured, as the change over time between products can be reduced by 50% or more.

Cartikeya Reddy, Head, Biologics, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, said: “We are delighted to be working with GE Healthcare to expand our biologics manufacturing footprint. We strongly believe that the FlexFactory platform from GE will enable us to rapidly ramp-up capacity and serve more patients in both emerging markets and highly regulated markets.”

Milind Palsule, Country Manager, South Asia, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: “We are pleased to partner with Dr. Reddy’s in their efforts to increase the availability and affordability of biopharmaceuticals globally by bringing single-use, flexible manufacturing capacity to its facility in Hyderabad.

"India today has one of the fastest growing biopharma sectors in the world and we are keen to support this development and the production capability of Indian pharma players with the latest biopharma technology and know-how.” he added