Industrial training visit at Incepta Pharmaceutical Limited, Zirabo, Ashulia, Savar, Bangladesh.
An engrossing industrial training visit by current Level-4 undergraduate students of the Biomedical Engineering department, MIST, was held on 14 November 2023, in the gracious presence of the respected Head of the department along with the faculty members of the BME department at Incepta Pharmaceutical Limited, Zirabo, Ashulia, Savar, Bangladesh.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals is one of the most renowned and leading pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. Before immersing ourselves in the facilities, an introductory session provided insight into Incepta's journey. The presentation outlined the company's commitment to research, development, and ethical business practices. After that, our students visited two major sections of the place. One is Biotech Unit another one is Vaccine Unit.
In the Biotech Unit, we were first taken to the commercial production zone, where we were briefed about the process of how a drug is commercialized, from API to packaging. We were introduced to sterilizers, different grades of rooms from A to C, and cold storage rooms where drugs are stored after production. We got to know how an active drug compound (insulin, peptides, or biosimilars) is sterilized, processed, filtered, checked for defects, and finally sealed and packaged. Then we were taken to the R&D section of the Biotech Unit. There, we were introduced to different devices like biosafety cabinets, fermenters, and laminar flow lines and their uses. We were briefed about how research is conducted on forming plasmids using yeast, bacteria, and mammalian cell lines.
In vaccine unit, we were introduced with the process of production of vaccines for different diseases like Hepatitis B, Meningitis etc. We were shown different machines such as fermenter, autoclave, bioreactor, centrifuge machine, RTPCR, Hepa filter and their working procedure. In this section, we were briefed about Recombinant DNA, cloning, mapping and got a depth idea of bulk production of vaccine. In the QC (Quality Control) area of vaccine zone, we have seen different machines to evaluate the quality of drugs. We have seen sophisticated devices of instrumentation lab, chemical treatment, serological room and microbiology lab such as pH meter, RTPCR, ELISA Reader, Visual defect identifier and many more.
Overall, it was a wholesome experience for our Level 4 students as it was the first time they could visit a pharma industry and got to know so many useful things. We are grateful to MIST authority and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd for creating this opportunity for students of BME dept.
