GE Healthcare Life Sciences and Guangzhou Development District Jointly Establish Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy

• GE Healthcare Life Sciences and Guangzhou Development District government will jointly invest $10 million to establish a training center for biopharmaceutical professionals and students
• The facility will be inaugurated as early as September 2020, and is expected to deliver training to more than 1,000 people annually

Guangzhou, China - December 4, 2019 - GE Healthcare Life Sciences and the Guangzhou Development District Investment Promotion Bureau (GDD) have signed an agreement to jointly invest 10 million USD in setting up the Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy, a training center for biopharmaceutical professionals. Located on the Guangzhou International Bio Island, the center will provide single-use bioprocessing training aligned with GMP standards, sustaining the growth of the biopharmaceutical talent pool in the Guangdong province.

The Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy will offer biopharmaceutical manufacturing training on the latest biologic drug production processes. GE Healthcare Life Sciences will support the delivery of education courses, while providing single-use equipment and dedicated Fast Trak course trainers. The Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy will train biopharmaceutical professionals in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and beyond. The training center is expected to open in September 2020 and train more than 1,000 people annually.

Emmanuel Ligner, President and CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences says: "Guangdong is a strategic center for the development of China's biopharmaceutical industry. This investment cooperation with GDD on professional training in the biopharmaceutical field is a new milestone in our continued investment in the China market and another way we fully support the development of the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry.”

Accelerating the training of biopharmaceutical professionals is key to supporting the development of the biopharmaceutical industry in China, which is projected to reach $1.4 billion by 2021[i]. GE Healthcare Life Sciences and GDD aim to bring new talent to this growing industry via this training center.

Yu Lihua, General Manager of GE Healthcare Life Science China, says: "As a long-term partner of Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises, GE Healthcare Life Sciences has strong product lines, as well as the experience and expertise in biotechnology R&D, biopharmaceutical production and management training. We are eager to collaborate with the government and the industry to build more professional and mature talent training bases, with this academy as a model, and support the growth of local talents.”

Photo: The Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy will be located on the Guangzhou International Bio Island. Credits: Guangzhou Development District

The Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy plans to nurture future collaborations with universities in Guangdong to develop an academic course on biomanufacturing that encompasses theory and practical learning.

Since 2016, GE Healthcare Life Sciences has continuously enhanced its cooperation with GDD. GE Healthcare Life Sciences currently provides complete biopharmaceutical solutions for local startups and biopharmaceutical manufacturers to accelerate speed-to-market of novel therapies, which benefit patients in China and around the world.

Sources:

^[i] Pharma Manufacturing (2019) China's Biopharma Growth: Can it Continue?

About GE Healthcare Life Sciences

GE Healthcare Life Sciences helps therapy innovators, researchers and healthcare providers accelerate how precision diagnostics and therapies are invented, made and used. Our products enable biological analysis, research, development and the manufacture of advanced therapies and vaccines. Life Sciences is part of the $19.8 billion healthcare business of GE. With over 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry and more than 50,000 employees globally, GE Healthcare helps efficiently improve outcomes for patients, healthcare providers, researchers, and life sciences companies around the world. Visit our website https://www.gelifesciences.com/about-us for more information.