MANUFACTURING
The scope
The first day of IMRP2008 was dedicated to invited lectures from senior scientific and industry executives, who presented broad perspectives on future trends in fundamental research, medical device developments, advanced materials and global trading in irradiated products. Days two and three of the Conference drilled down into the operational aspects of radiation processing. The health care component included sessions on product and process developments and technology and infrastructure developments. Day four provided an additional programme of advanced workshops. The Panel on Gamma and Electron Irradiation (www.irradiationpanel.org) held a workshop on Advanced Dosimetry, Modelling and Process Control, and the International Irradiation Association (iiA) delivered a workshop on the Sterilisation of Advanced Drug–Device Combination Products.
The plenary presentations
A plenary contribution from Professor Andrew Cooper (University of Liverpool, Centre for Materials Discovery, www.materialsdiscovery.com) highlighted the need to change the nature of academic and industry research interfaces to allow them to effectively respond to current challenges. He illustrated his point with references to developments in advanced automated research methods that enable organisations to speed up the research process and shortcut the delivery of new materials to market.
George Kennedy, OBE, (President of the Association of British Healthcare Industries, www.abhi.org.uk) addressed the role of governments and trade associations in facilitating inward and outward health care business development.
Dr Guy Lebeau (Chairman Eucomed, www.eucomed.org) opened the consideration of the health care environment by detailing some of the challenges in the medium term development of health care markets. These include the continued growth of chronic diseases that will increase health care demand globally and the percentage of gross domestic product spent on health care in Europe, which is likely to double by 2050. The macro economic trends referenced included ageing populations, a decrease in informal health care, increasing difficulties in financing health care for governments, and the poor or inconsistent quality of health care in many countries. Innovation in health care delivery will consequently become more important. Dr Lebeau also highlighted the striking disparity in medical technology research and development as a percentage of sales between the United States (US) and Europe: the US spends approximately double that of Europe. He expressed the view that ultimately there will be fewer providers and these will deliver more integrated care. Manufacturers will stop maximising usage and begin to maximise value for patients. The environment will demand evidence-based medicine, which will require a switch in focus from input costs to output (patient based) values.
Stephen Ward (Onyvax, www.onyvax.com) outlined the role of the irradiation process in the manufacture of anticancer vaccines derived from inactivated allogenic tumour cells developed to treat existing malignancies. Onyvax has developed a small-scale semiautomated manufacturing process for the production of anticancer vaccine. Irradiation at –80 °C is employed to inactivate and sterilise the vaccine in its packaged state prior to storage and distribution. Important issues were the control of temperature during the irradiation process and the measurement of absorbed dose with alanine dosimeters at –80 °C. Variability in the irradiation process required that the process be interrupted to measure absorbed dose at intervals during exposure.
Presentations on other applications of high energy radiation processing were included in the Advanced Materials strand of the Conference programme. Industry infrastructure and the field of food irradiation were explored in the Global Trade strand. The Conference included a strong poster element with approximately 130 international posters presented for viewing attended by their authors. Twenty exhibitors representing suppliers of dosimeters and dosimetry equipment, trade and professional association, radiation processing equipment, isotope supply, standards laboratories and contract irradiators provided a valuable focal point and meeting place as well as a wealth of technical information. The Conference benefited from generous sponsorship from across the radiation processing industry, which enabled registration fees to be subsidised by approximately 20%. In addition, sponsorship from the International Atomic Energy Agency facilitated attendance from developing countries. The event attracted more than 400 delegates from 40 countries.
Call to action
The Conference was brought to a close by John Masefield, the Chairman of the International Irradiation Association, iiA. He delivered a Call to Action for the radiation processing industry to actively pursue novel applications relevant to the changing demands of the 21st century in health care, environmental conservation and fuel and water economy. He urged communication and collaboration across academic, industrial and political boundaries to promote upstream integration of radiation processing and achieve earlier, faster and more cost- effective product development.
Publication of proceedings
Publication of the Conference Proceedings will be undertaken by Radiation Physics and Chemistry. Abstracts of the presentations and posters can be found on the iiA website www.iiaglobal.org. The oral presentations and ultimately the scientific and technical contributions will be available in full on the iiA website: www.iiaglobal.org.
Dr John Woolston, Isotron Ltd, Swindon, UK, e-mail: john.woolston@isotron.com, www.isotron.com.
