Pharma center: collaboration between community, businesses and ECU fosters training and research.

• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

By ECU News Services

The Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing Center of Excellence, or more simply the Pharmaceutical Services Center at East Carolina University, was created in 2015 with a [dollar]1.1 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, as well as [dollar]100,000 from the Pitt County Committee of 100. Pitt Community College also received [dollar]650,000 as part of the grant, which was designed to help create the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Services Network to assist in workforce training and development for the region's growing pharmaceutical industry.

The Pitt County Development Commission reports that more than 8,000 people are directly employed in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Johnson, Wilson, Nash and Pitt counties alone.

"This one-of-a-kind collaboration provides a continuum of pharmaceutical education and training to new and existing companies in North Carolina and beyond," said Mark Phillips of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

The PSC@ECU is a laboratory-based education and training network with offerings including good manufacturing practices and good laboratory practices courses, short courses for professional development and analytical services. Coursework at the PSC@PCC includes weighing, milling, granulating, blending, tableting, tablet coating and encapsulating.

The services were developed with significant input from local industry partners and can be customized to accommodate specific company needs. Partners who have been instrumental in the development of the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Services Network include BioNetwork, Golden LEAF, N.C. Biotech Center, N.C. Community College System, NCEast Alliance, PCC, Pitt County Committee of 100 and the Pitt County Development Commission.

"ECU continues to play a leading role in the growth of North Carolina's advanced manufacturing industries and workforce," said Ted Morris, associate vice chancellor, head of ECU's Office of Innovation and Economic Development, and co-principal investigator on the project. "This collaboration will prepare professionals to fuel diversification, innovation and operational excellence within North Carolina's pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries." Phillips said the project's goals include:

* Instructing new hires in formulation development, production and process optimization, equipment performance and vendor demonstrations

* Educating students and workers for the highly-regulated pharmaceutical development and...