Chalfont St. Giles, UK and Songdo, Korea – 29 September 2016 – GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences business, a global provider of technologies and expertise to the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industries, announced today the opening of a GE Fast Trak Center in Songdo, Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea. The new USD 7.4 million Center will support the growth of South Korea’s rapidly expanding biopharmaceutical industry by providing hands-on practical training, technology evaluation, manufacturing support, and consultancy services in the latest strategies and technologies for upstream and downstream bioprocessing.
Demand for GE’s newest Fast Trak Center is expected to be high. During the past five years the domestic production of biopharmaceuticals in South Korea has grown 9 percent, and exports grew almost 34 percent between 2014 and 2015, from USD 589 million to USD 809 million(1). Songdo is already home to a number of leading South Korean biopharmaceutical companies, and excellent national and international transport links will enable GE customers from other parts of the country, and the wider Asia region, easy access to the services that the Center has to offer.
Kieran Murphy, President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences business, said: “We’re delighted to be investing in South Korea with our fifth global Fast Trak Center, which brings us closer to our customers in one of the world’s key bioprocessing hubs, enabling us to share our global knowledge and expertise at a local level. South Korea has some of the world’s most innovative biopharma companies, and we look forward to further supporting the growth of the industry here.”
The 2,200 m2 APAC Fast Trak Center in Songdo, South Korea adds to GE’s existing global network of Fast Trak Centers in the USA, Sweden, India, and China. The company also has satellite Fast Trak Centers in Turkey, Japan and Singapore. Worldwide, around 500 customers attend standard Fast Trak courses every year, with training available in local languages. In addition, there are customized courses that are built upon request and tailored according to customer needs.
GE’s Fast Trak Training Centers are specifically designed to help biopharmaceutical manufacturers increase their process productivity, reduce cost and enable them to bring their product to market faster. They are equipped with the latest technologies for bioprocessing in an environment and at a scale that closely replicates the real-life industrial setting. For over 30 years, thousands of customers world-wide have been trained by GE’s experienced Fast Trak leadership teams, giving customers access to industry expertise encompassing process and analytical development, process scale-up, as well as manufacture of drug substances for use in toxicology studies or Phase I and II clinical testing.
(1) BioPharma Reporter: Korea positioned to be global biopharma powerhouse, says industry association. 25 Aug, 2016 http://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Markets-Regulations/Korea-positioned-to-be-a-global-biopharma-powerhouse-says-CPhI
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter – great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
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