Yokogawa Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6841) (Yokogawa) and Integrated Commissioning and Qualification Consultants, Corp. (ICQ Consultants) of Southborough announce that they have entered into a partnership agreement under which ICQ Consultants will provide consulting and engineering services for the installation, maintenance, qualification, and support of Yokogawa’s bioreactor systems and related products in the United States.

As a result of the COVID pandemic, the global biopharmaceutical market has been growing at an unprecedented rate, with significant investments being made in diagnostics, vaccine development, and medical devices to test and treat the coronavirus. These investments have driven demand for infrastructure in developing and manufacturing monoclonal antibody drugs and products that require mammalian cell bioreactor technologies.

Since 2007, ICQ Consultants has played an important role in the commissioning and qualification of manufacturing plants in the major life sciences hubs in the United States, including some of the world’s largest biomanufacturing facilities. As part of this partnership agreement, Yokogawa will leverage ICQ Consultants’ engineering and laboratory expertise in the biopharmaceutical segment to deploy its new bioprocess technologies in the United States.  The first portfolio product, the Advanced Control Bioreactor System BR1000 was recently released on January 8, offering significant performance advantages over existing methods for biologics development.

The automation of manual processes is a rapidly advancing trend in the biopharmaceutical industry. For complete automation of the fed-batch mammalian cell culture process, the control of glucose — a key nutrient source — is critical. Through in-line sensing and model predictive control software, and automated feeding, a stable concentration of glucose in bioreactors can be achieved. The BR1000 automates lab-scale mammalian cell culture with highly accurate real-time monitoring and advanced process control.

Michael Bogan, president of ICQ Consultants, commented, “We are very excited to join Yokogawa in this strategic partnership agreement to help facilitate the support of their bioreactor systems and related products throughout the United States. As ICQ Consultants continues to expand operations across the country, we are poised to further develop lasting relationships, which has been a key factor in our ongoing success. I look forward to working with Yokogawa on this unique and collaborative opportunity.”

Hiroshi Nakao, a Yokogawa vice president and head of the company’s Life Innovation Business Headquarters, added, “Driven by a clear business vision and recent successes in the life sciences, food, and pharmaceutical sectors, Yokogawa Corporation of America is also turning its attention to biologics development and manufacturing. Alliances with industry experts like ICQ Consultants are vital to gain expertise and penetration in the high growth biopharmaceutical market. ICQ Consultants’ engineering and technical knowledge in drug manufacturing will support our innovative new bioreactor and bioprocess technologies and help position Yokogawa for rapid sales and market leadership in the emerging bio-industrial autonomy sector.”