Pharmaceutical manufacturing employees have the highest Gross Value Added (GVA) of any high-technology sector – over £330,000 per employee, delivered in part by commercialising new technologies such as genomics, personalised healthcare and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs).
As the UK grows its innovative high-tech industries the areas of highest skills demand will be in competent technicians and operators capable of reliably running routine but complex manufacturing operations.
The BIA Manufacturing Advisory Committee (MAC) supports the UK commercial bio-medicine manufacturing community by providing an experienced network for members to address issues relevant to the biologics, vaccine, cell and gene therapy sectors, to cross-pollinate expertise and best practice.
The BIA also jointly established the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) with the Government and the biopharmaceutical industry partners in 2014 to ensure that the UK is recognised by the global medicines industry as a world-class advanced centre for medicines manufacturing. You can read more on the MMIP pages.
Manufacturing Advisory Committee (MAC)
MAC has a significant presence on the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP), which reports at the Ministerial level, bringing the whole UK industry together to drive UK competitiveness in medicines manufacturing. The committee is networked into Catapults, supporting the skills strategy of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, and UK Centres of Excellence.
MAC is responsible for the scientific programme each year for one of the BIA's successful flagship events - the bioProcessUK Conference.
The committee has reviewed and responded to several manufacturing-related consultations from the European Commission and contributes to the MHRA GMP/GDP Consultative Committee. It also played a key role in the BIA Covid-19 Expert Advisory Group that feeds into the HMG Vaccines Taskforce.
MAC Priorities
1. Connect
- 30 members spanning biologics, vaccines and cell & gene therapies cross-pollinating expertise and best practice through networking and site visits
- Engage Complex Medicines communities
- Engage Sustainable Biotech companies
2. Inform/Support
- Deliver another successful programme for the bioProcessUK conference
- Support medicines manufacturing sustainability towards Net Zero
- Assist in delivering a national skills provision for biomanufacturing for global impact:
- Expansion of the very successful ISCF funded ATS programme led by Cell and Gene Therapy (CTG) Catapult
- Leadership skills delivery through the popular BIA MAC LeaP initiative, broadening the concept to other Committees
MAC Expert Advice
- Act as key pan-industry stakeholder within Life Sciences Vision:
- Several MAC members represent the voice of the biologics/cell and gene therapy sector on the MMIP Leadership Team and workstreams, seeking wider MAC contribution when appropriate
- Deliver next-generation analytics and associated data strategic vision for industry
- Provide expert advice on the development of new UK and international standards (working group with Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and others)
MAC Chair and Vice-Chairs
Kit Erlebach
Kit is responsible for Engineering and EHS at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in the UK. Kit has also worked as a Biochemical Engineer for 20 years and holds a Lean Six Sigma leader Master Black Belt qualification. He has applied LSS to quality, engineering and manufacturing in the course of leading laboratory construction projects totalling more than £100M. Kit has a first degree from Nottingham University in Chemical Engineering and a PhD from Cambridge University in Chemical Engineering and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. He an MBA from the Open University as part of the ATAC programme.
Sharon Grimster
Sharon is a consultant at Redownes Ltd, having previously held leadership roles at Avacta, VaxEquity, ReNeuron, F-Star, Antisoma and Celltech. During her career she has had responsibility for a range of development functions, including CMC, project management, medical devices, regulatory affairs, preclinical, business operations and quality.
Sharon is the Vice Chair of the Manufacturing Advisory Committee for the BIA, and was the 2019 winner of the Peter Dunnill award.
Will Milligan
Will is the Founder of Extracellular, a CDMO for cultivated meat and seafood. Will has extensive experience in stem cell scale up and earned a PhD from Newcastle University in Biopharmaceutical Process Development. Prior to founding Extracellular, he worked in cell and gene therapy process development at eXmoor Pharma Concepts.
BIA MAC Leadership Programme (MAC LeaP)
The BIA MAC LeaP programme supports the development and training of managers in the biopharmaceutical and cell & gene therapy industries through cross-sector learning and peer networks.
BIA Manufacturing Community
BIA Manufacturing Community aims to engage BIA members with an active interest in biomanufacturing (companies already on MAC and companies who are not part of MAC). Members of this community will receive email updates and will be invited to participate in working groups and events. They will also be in line for joining MAC or other interest groups as the manufacturing community develops.
Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community (ATAC)
ATAC was established to develop apprenticeship programmes designed specifically to train and upskill individuals to develop, manufacture and deliver advanced therapies, vaccines and biologics at scale. The programme currently supports over 230 apprentices from 45 organisations across science, digital, engineering and leadership disciplines addressing critical skills gaps in our sector. MAC supports this programme, coordinated by the CGT Catapult.
Next-Generation Analytics
In partnership with the CGT Catapult & KTN, MAC held a workshop in June 2019 to discuss key challenges, barriers and opportunities for the development and integration of analytical technologies to support advanced manufacturing. Representatives of large pharma, SMEs, biopharma, technology developers, national measurement laboratories, RTOs & CDMO/CROs discussed what analytical innovation is needed to accelerate growth within the industry.
Members of BIA MAC
