The pharmaceutical HIPRA, a member of Catalonia.health, is leading the European project SPEEDCELL, with the goal of transforming the development of vaccines and other biotechnological products to address future health crises.
With €3.96 million in funding through the European EU4Health program, SPEEDCELL addresses one of the major challenges of the European healthcare system: the need for agile and effective response mechanisms to global health emergencies. The project seeks to establish a faster, more flexible, and more efficient production platform, capable of delivering new biologic products in just 100 days.
The initiative, which will run for 4 years, focuses on optimizing development and manufacturing processes based on cell lines, widely used in the production of vaccines and biological products. The ultimate objective is to make the so-called “100 Days Mission” a reality, promoted by the European Commission and the HERA (Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority), to ensure rapid access to critical medical countermeasures during emergencies.
The project, led and coordinated by the different companies within the HIPRA group, is being developed entirely in Spain and strengthens the country’s role as a strategic player in biopharmaceutical innovation and European health preparedness. In addition, HIPRA had already been selected by the European Commission and HERA to be part of the EU FAB project, a network of manufacturing capacities maintained in a permanent state of readiness for vaccines and critical medicines. This initiative, in which HIPRA is one of four participating European manufacturers, aims to guarantee an immediate response to future health emergencies.
Laura Ferrer, R&D Director of HIPRA’s Human Health Division, said: “With SPEEDCELL, HIPRA consolidates itself as one of the key players in driving a more prepared and autonomous Europe in the field of global health. The initiative reinforces our commitment to innovation and to responding to global challenges, contributing to the construction of a more resilient and strategic biopharmaceutical model aligned with European priorities for preparedness against future crises. Furthermore, with this project we aim to become the fastest in the world in producing biologics based on cell lines.”
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