Cell therapy manufacturing platform installed with teamwork

When Genepeutic Bio needed a FlexFactory™ platform for its new facility in Thailand, Chanwit Naknawa and Suphachai Photharos knew the installation would be challenging. But they also understood the importance of the task.

When Genepeutic Bio needed a FlexFactory™ platform for its new facility in Thailand, Chanwit Naknawa and Suphachai Photharos knew the installation would be challenging. COVID was surging in the region, and the two Cytiva field engineers were juggling multiple projects.

"The uncertain pandemic situation, the fact that we had many other projects in the same period, and the newness of this installation were challenges," Chanwit says. He and Suphachai were the primary field service engineers for Thailand in 2022.

But they also understood the importance of the task: Genepeutic Bio will use the FlexFactory™ platform to manufacture chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells as part of its aim to bring cell and gene therapies to patients in Asia. The facility’s opening is a milestone for the region.

Understanding the importance of the project, Chanwit and Suphachai prepared carefully for the installation and reached out to Cytiva’s global service team for support.

"We arranged many trainings and meeting support in the first stage," says Chanwit. "We wanted to make sure we could meet the customer’s need."

Kee Heng Tan, a technical support leader at Cytiva, traveled from Singapore to support the project despite the uncertainty around travel at the time. "It would be telling a lie to say that I was not at all worried to travel during COVID," he says. "But I thought it was worthwhile to be involved in this project."

With careful preparation and communication between departments, the team completed the installation successfully. "The overall running of the project had been well-organized, and the field engineers were very knowledgeable. The Quality Assurance team is also very knowledgeable and having one of them here in person has been very essential especially in real-time consultation with questions that we have. In addition, as these processes are very new to the scientists within Genepeutic Bio and the country as a whole, we really need a very good understanding of the process. In this case, the training is very essential and the Cytiva trainers have also been super great, knowledgeable, and very accommodating. Overall, I have a very pleasant experience with Cytiva," said Kitipong Uaesoontrachoon, Chief Scientific Officer at Genepeutic Bio.

All the engineers agreed that teamwork was the winning ingredient. "It was very important that all teams were aligned and on the same page," Chanwit says. "And we worked as a team, with good communication and preparation."

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