You also need to consider access to a skilled workforce. Given the fact that there are few automated solutions for manufacturing ATMPs, processes are manual and require attentive and highly trained workers who can perform the process in line with cGMP. An obvious solution is to locate your factory in a populated area with other ATMP companies, as well as prestigious universities. This makes the hiring process easier – and you can also partner with universities and local schools to raise awareness among younger talent – but it can also result in high staff turnover because of the competition. If you are planning to locate your facility in a competitive area, it pays to think about what you can do to retain staff. Companies like Google have gone to extreme lengths to make their facilities attractive to staff! Few pharma companies are willing to go that far but considering lounge space and amenities, such as a creche or a fitness center, can be hugely beneficial in attracting and retaining staff. If this isn’t an option – many ATMP companies are small so may not have the capital available for optional extras for staff – consider alternative options that will make the company attractive, such as partnerships with local facilities and cafes. You can also partner with nearby companies to share meeting spaces.
It is also worth considering the fact that in populated areas, space can be at a premium, which brings us back to the need for potential expansion during the lifetime of the ATMP therapy. In a less populated area, while it may be initially harder to staff employees, there is the opportunity to train a stable, dedicated workforce. Sites may be larger and less expensive too, but this may be offset against the transportation logistics and other factors including access to vendors, and disposal of medical waste, which can be more expensive.
In many cases, we find that companies lean towards populated areas. But the final decision may also be influenced by upper management – who may simply want to choose a location that is nice to live in or that is close to the company’s roots.
Flexibility for the future
From the very start of a project, you need to go through your process every step of the way. Where is your incoming material coming from? How frequently will it come? What space does it require? Where will it be stored? How do the materials move about the facility? What space do you need for cleanrooms? And then how is the therapy transported back out to the patient? You need a good picture of the physical space involved in all aspects of the manufacturing process. We recommend using modeling to understand what will happen in each of the key spaces and to determine the requirements. In our experience, the hardest part for clients is making key, pivotal decisions early in the project and keeping to those decisions throughout the project lifecycle. If you cannot decide what your needs are then it will be difficult to choose the right site and to optimize the facility design. As one consideration, if you don’t know how many employees you’ll have, then it will be difficult to plan for parking, employee facilities, gowning, and how many people you’ll actually have in a cleanroom and how this affects the facility layout. Cleanrooms and quality laboratories are often the main considerations and it’s very easy to overlook everything else that is required for a facility.
We’ve outlined only a brief selection of factors that may influence site selection – there is far more to consider. But for ATMPs, the biggest advice we can offer is to choose a site that is flexible – this could be a greenfield site or a flexible shell building for interior fitout. The era of ATMPs is only just beginning; technology is changing fast and a lot of lessons are being learned as more therapies reach the market. Your facility needs to be flexible to adapt to new trends and to be future-proofed for next generation therapies.
Article originally appeared in The Medicine Maker.