CRB Celebrates Five Years In Europe

CRB announced the successful delivery of nearly 100 projects for the European life sciences market in the five years since opening its first European office in Basel, Switzerland. We opened a second office in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2018.

“Our Basel and Stuttgart teams are committed to bringing clients an entirely new class of project delivery and technological expertise,” said Ryan Schroeder, President of CRB. “Our growth in Europe reflects CRB’s commitment to the continent as a critical part of the global biopharma value chain. While we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, the demand for innovative and effective patient therapies and vaccines will keep us laser-focused on continuing to support our clients’ most important work.”

Since establishing European operations in 2016 with two employees, the company has increased its presence on the continent with the global knowledge and technical expertise of a 70-plus person team of locally based designers and builders to provide integrated, end-to-end solutions that take projects from concept and design to construction and commissioning. The company supports increasingly complex projects for innovative pharmaceutical, cell and gene therapy, and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO).

“Our global approach gives our life sciences clients talented local project teams backed by world-class subject matter experts throughout CRB’s international operations,” said Eric Unrau, Vice President of Operations, Europe. “Our teams excel at developing projects ranging from small research facilities to complex construction projects, and at scaling emerging life sciences technologies to bring therapies to market, faster.”

Projects completed by CRB’s European team in the last five years include:

• The lead design role for a confidential but major client to design a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine production facility in Switzerland. CRB provided design services to fit an existing shell with three new production kits for an mRNA vaccine. Our client began GMP production in the first kit just eight months from project kick-off because of close collaboration between our multi-national design team—with our local team in Basel, Switzerland serving as a local resource through all phases of the project supported by our team in the United States.
• BioNTech recognized CRB for its design role in BioNTech’s historic COVID-19 “Project Lightspeed” effort. CRB translated BioNTech’s unique mRNA technology and science with limited regulatory landscape and production systems into a functional, cost-effective and compliant design. By partnering closely with BioNTech to understand the business, drive efficiencies and incorporate new technologies, the team was able to deliver an optimized layout and flexible solution that will allow the manufacturer to provide cost-effective medicine for patients.