2 | www.approcess.com
TAOISEACH
Opens state-of-the-art centre The Taoiseach Edna Kenny, TD, officially opened the APC world-class, state-ofthe-art process research facility in Cherrywood, Dublin, with the announcement of 100 new jobs. The 6,000m2 premises will serve as APC’s new headquarters. APC is an innovator in process research solutions for the drugs industry, helping global clients accelerate the development of their medicines for a wide range of conditions including cancer and HIV. The company’s move to Cherrywood Business Park is part of APC’s rapid expansion as it looks to more than double its workforce to meet client demand. Speaking at the launch, the Taoiseach said: “I am delighted to welcome the announcement by APC of 100 new jobs in Dublin. This new research centre is a vote of confidence in Ireland and enhances our reputation as a leading location for pharmaceutical research and development. It is also a shining example of how a thriving business can grow from a bright idea once the right conditions are created. “It’s an extraordinary company that is really innovative and is changing the frontiers of science,” he added. “Turning a wonder molecule into a mass-produced medicine presents serious scientific and technological challenges even for some of the largest companies in the world. In our research, Brian and I saw an opportunity,” Mark Barrett (CEO, APC), said at the event. What started out as a cautious experiment between Mark, a bright postdoctoral student, and his UCD professor (Brian Glennon), has now turned into a multi-million euro
enterprise. Launched in the middle of the financial crisis, Barrett and Glennon found a way to help the pharmaceutical industry make complex new medicines reliably, and at scale, both here in Ireland and abroad. In the space of just 4 years, the company they formed has pioneered innovation in the sector and APC now partners with 8 of the top-10 pharma and 5 of the top-10 biotech firms in the world. 80% of its services are exportdriven and the company aims to reach revenues of €50m by 2020. Speaking about the job announcement, Mark Barrett CEO, said: “Our success has come from working with talented and creative engineers and scientists. We are looking to expand the team with today's announcement of 100 highly-skilled research and development jobs across chemical engineering, sciences and analytics. We need people who enjoy the rewards of working in an environment that is driven by cuttingedge technology and science. In return, we will provide them with an opportunity to do something extraordinary: to help change patient outcomes for the better.”
❝
Taoiseach, Edna Kenny, TD
It’s an extraordinary company that is really innovative and is
❞
changing the frontiers of science.
www.approcess.com | 3
MIRACLE MOLECULES
only half the story Dr. Mark Barrett CEO and Co-Founder So, we often hear in the news about new medicines being discovered...new medicines that will save lives and help progress the treatment of conditions like HIV, cancer and many others. And if you know someone - maybe even a family member - who is sick with something for which there is no treatment, you know that the development of these new therapies is really important. What many of you may not know is that the discovery of these miracle molecules is only half the story...to turn these ground breaking discoveries, made in a laboratory, into a mass produced medicine, manufactured in a
4 | www.approcess.com
pharmaceutical plant, presents significant scientific and engineering challenges...even for the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Here at APC this is what we do. We use our technology and software platforms and teams of scientists and engineers to design the chemical and biological processes required to translate these miracle molecules into medicines that can be taken by patients all over the world. To be a scientist and to be part of that journey is not only exciting but incredibly fulfilling. In just four short years we’ve grown from just myself and Brian to a team of
60 highly PhD qualified chemical engineers, bioprocessing engineers, scientists and analysts. I truly believe that we have some of the brightest and best minds nationally and internationally here. We have specialist in many fields like process analytical technology, continuous processing and chemometrics. This isn’t just any ordinary company with ordinary scientists...there’s more to our team than white coats! We have some real characters working here. Jessica, our mountain climber. Sometimes when driving up to our new facility I half expect to see Jess and her husband climbing the exterior of the building! We have Guangyang a world-class table tennis player who remains unbeaten in the APC league and Bryan Doonan who very nobly devotes his spare time and scientific acumen to a cause perhaps even greater than lifesaving medicines...crafting the perfect home brew! On a more serious note we are now partnering with 8 of the top-10 pharmaceutical and 5 of the top-10 biotech companies worldwide. These partners see on a day to day basis that what we do here in APC is truly world class. We have established our headquarters here in Dublin, with offices on the East and West coast of the US and now over 80% of our revenue is export-based. That journey bring us here to the launch of our new multi-million euro research facility in Cherrywood and the
announcement of 100 new new jobs across our pharmaceutical, biotech, operations, finance and commercial business units. Our plans for the future are bold and ambitious and we intend to increase our staff numbers by more then 100 over the coming years and to more than quadruple our turnover over the next 5 years. With that comes considerable expansion to our facility, global base and our team of engineers and scientists. Our vision is to make APC and Ireland the go-to place, globally, for advanced pharmaceutical and biotech R&D and to ultimately help patients, all over the world, gain access to their medicines in a quicker, safer, more reliable and costeffective manner. To say we, as an Irish research company, are playing even a small part in this journey is incredibly exciting and fills us all with such great pride.
❝
Here at APC this is what we do. We use our technology and software platforms and teams of scientists and engineers to design the chemical and biological processes required to translate these miracle molecules into medicines that can be taken by patients all over the world.
❞
www.approcess.com | 5
Meet
6 | www.approcess.com
the
team
www.approcess.com | 7
8 | www.approcess.com
FOUR YEARS OF GROWTH APC expands to meet demand
The new facility will allow APC to grow at a rate required to meet the market demand for our research services and technologies.
❞
When there is a Professor and his former student working together on a project, it is tempting to create an interesting narrative to add colour to the adventure. However, in this case, it is a simple one – I hold Mark's coat while he goes for it. I occasionally have to intervene to make sure the rest of the world can catch up, and also to ensure that when we are on the road, he never, ever, under any circumstances ever gets hungry – it is too ugly to describe what happens! From the start of the APC journey, the cornerstone of what we do as a company was, and continues to be, heavily influenced by our backgrounds in Chemical Engineering. Our new 6,000 m2 headquarters here in Cherrywood is designed to support continued growth and the development and launch of new capabilities and technologies. Significant investment was made in the development of our new headquarters and it is intended to be best-in-class. The new facility will allow APC to grow at a rate required to meet the market demand for our research services and technologies.
ABOUT US... TEAM: 80% PhD-qualified; nationally the largest employer of PhD-qualified chemical engineers TEAM SIZE: From 0 to 60 staff in 4 years EXPORT DRIVE: 80% export driven R&D PHARMACEUTICAL PARTNERS: 8 of the top 10 pharma companies worldwide BIOTECH PARTNERS: 5 of the top 10 biotech companies worldwide GROWTH: 130% growth over 2015 with similar rates on track for 2017 and beyond. FACILITY: Architect designed laboratories and research facility to match the best in the world
Prof. Brian Glennon CTO and Co-Founder
WHAT WE DO... For everyone, access to medicine is vitally important. However, there are significant scientific and engineering challenges associated with turning the discovery of an active ingredient into a medicine or therapy that can be manufactured at scale in a way that produces predictable results. This, of course, is vital to the pharmaceutical industry for quality and regulation purposes. At APC, we help the pharmaceutical and biotech industry design these chemical and biological processes, thus ensuring the patient risk, cost and time to develop and launch these medicines are minimised. We do this by bringing together innovative technology with a worldclass team of highly qualified science and engineering research professionals.
APC | 9
Dr. Jessica Whelan
Dr. Brian O’Sullivan
Director, Technical Operations
Director, European Commercial Operations
“The move to our new headquarters in Cherrywood heralds the start of a really exciting and positive time for APC. It is a chance to shake off the limitations and frustrations associated with our previous location and to capitalise on our freedom. “These opportunities are many and diverse, everything from having the control to create a great workspace and culture for the team to enjoy and thrive in, to expanding our current activities and adding many more strings to our bow, both technically, and in roles such as quality and safety, to support our team. “I know that the team is brimming with ideas to build on a great start. I’m looking forward to eating a lot of cake in our amazing canteen in the coming years and remembering this milestone in the journey!”
“Working in a client facing role, our new facility and home in Cherrywood fills me with huge pride when discussing and sharing our vision as a company with both existing and new clients. What we have in Cherrywood is a world-class process research and development infrastructure that is on a par and perhaps even beyond many of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. “It positions us to build on our existing partnerships and collaborations in accelerating the delivery of quality life-changing medicines to patients. It provides a wonderful back drop to the brilliant scientists and engineers we have working here, who are everyday pushing the boundaries in the development of new medicines. All of the ingredients are now in place to be the best in the world at what we do, and to be involved in that is hugely exciting.”
Global Reach Our Team
19% BSc BEng
33%
PhD Scientists
48%
PhD Chem Eng
10 | www.approcess.com
❝
We are looking forward to increasing our worldwide presence in 2016
❞
– Mark Barrett
www.approcess.com | 11
APC Ltd Building 11 Cherrywood Business Park Loughlinstown Co. Dublin D18 DH50 Ireland Telephone: +353.1.517.5420 Email: info@approcess.com Web: approcess.com