BIOSUPPLIERS
Amidst the chaos created by the pandemic globally, the biosuppliers sector stayed focused on developing and delivering the required consumables, reagents, equipment etc. in this fight against COVID-19 throughout 2021.
‘Transported COVID-19 vaccines to more than 50 countries & territories worldwide’
“Over the past year and a half, we have successfully moved nearly 14,000 COVID-19 humanitarian aid shipments. We have shipped more than 2.5 billion masks and approximately 110 kilotonnes of PPE and other healthcare supplies worldwide, including more than 37 kilotonnes shipped in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region. We continue to work closely with healthcare customers and government officials to deliver the COVID-19 vaccines as they are made available. We’ve now transported these vaccines to more than 50 countries and territories worldwide, including recent shipments to South Korea and Vietnam. We were recently named Asia’s Best Third Party Logistics Provider for Vaccines by IMAPAC in recognition of our team and our capabilities in protecting shipment integrity and keeping vaccines moving across the globe. We’ve been applying our SenseAware monitoring technology as part of our Priority Alert service to track vaccine shipments as they move through our network.”
- KAWAL PREET
President, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA), FedEx Express, Hong Kong SAR
‘Made a number of acquisitions in life sciences and diagnostics’
“In addition to outperforming revenue growth over last year, we made a number of acquisitions in life sciences and diagnostics as well as R&D investments in the food and applied markets accelerated innovation across the board. In the field of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, our PCR test kits continue to serve customers around the globe, and our state-of-the-art automation solutions benefit a wide range of customers across industries, including the Tokyo Olympic Games this year. The pace of regulatory changes, cross-border transactions and restrictions on people mobility have accelerated PerkinElmer’s efforts on digitisation internally and externally with customers and partners. For example, our 3D laboratory, virtual demonstrations, enhancement of the PerkinElmer e-commerce platform, and many other current actions across commercial departments will continuously help PerkinElmer turn challenges into new opportunities.”
- KYON SOONPIL
Vice President and General Manager, PerkinElmer, KOSEA+J (Korea, Oceania, South East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan+Japan)
‘Successful in our nucleic acid automation, COVID-19 antigen tests’
“We feel very successful in 2021, especially in our nucleic acid automation, COVID-19 antigen tests, self-owned product sales, cell therapy, & tumor microenvironment clinical research sales growth. COVID-19 brings the whole sales & research & development as well as shipping environment a great change. Thus, our company makes key adjustments to overcome difficulties, which is why we have something that cannot rely on foreign countries. We need to pay special attention to the independent development of Taiwan manufacturing, from the original import from abroad to export to Southeast Asian countries.”
- PASTEUR K. TAI
President, Cold Spring Biotech Corp., Taiwan
‘Provided manufacturing license for antimicrobial coating technology’
“ASN Technologies provided its manufacturing licence for ASN GUARD antimicrobial coating technology to be manufactured by MaTerra Solutions. These products today are being used by the Singapore government to help control the spread of COVID-19. ASN Technologies was used to provide anti-microbial coating sprayed on gallery seats and other areas to prevent COVID-19 spread at the Singapore National Day Parade 2021. We adapted and found ways to work closely with the government as per the new normal. Keeping the core ethos of our company, we also made decision in the month of October 2021 when the COVID cases spiked to stopped sales of their antimicrobial hand coating and divert all available stocks as free distribution to frontline workers.”
- NITIN SARUP CHOWDHARY
ASN Technologies (Founder); MaTerra Solutions (JV Partner), Singapore
‘Efforts were recognised through conferment of several awards’
“Led by the biologics market unit, we achieved robust growth in all three product markets. Globally, we recorded 28.9 per cent net sales growth in Q3 2021. In APAC, this figure, driven by the continued growing demand for high value product (HVP) offerings such as NovaPure Components and Flurotec Barrier Film, COVID-19 related needs, and an expanding base business, is even higher. We committed to a capital spend of more than $265 million till date and hired over 1,000 new team members. Our efforts were recognised by our colleagues through the conferment of several awards across the region. We were recognised as the Best Bioprocessing Supplier Award in Korea, the Top Innovator for Biologics Packaging in India and National Pharmaceutical Packaging Association for scientific thought leadership in China.”
- STEWART CAMPBELL
Vice-President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, West Pharmaceutical Services, Singapore
‘Brought two new products to market’
“In 2021 we brought two new products to market. In May we launched Releye RLP, setting a new standard for temperaturecontrolled air cargo containers. It can maintain internal temperature for up to a week with one charge. In November, we launched CryoSure, which allows cryogenic shipments at -70°C for a period of up to three weeks. It’s a game changer and is going to revolutionise this part of the market. We’re shipping around two million doses of medicines per day for all major pharmaceutical manufacturers, covering more than 2,000 pharma trade lanes in over 100 countries and 300 airports.”
- PETER GISEL-EKDAHL
Chief Executive Officer, Envirotainer, Sweden
‘Developed and commercialised several kits for COVID-19 testing’
“In the areas of diagnosis and surveillance studies for COVID-19, we developed and commercialised several kits such as HiPurA Viral RNA Purification Kit, Hi-PCR Coronavirus (COVID-19) Multiplex Probe PCR Kit, PCR media for virus lysis and direct PCR etc. The cell culture business at HiMedia launched its latest venture of the development of media for manufacturing biosimilars and viral vaccines. We have also set up a world-class upstream media development and bioprocess optimisation lab as the biosimilars sector is set to boom at a CAGR of 30-35 per cent.”
- DR GIRISH B. MAHAJAN
Senior Vice President, HiMedia Laboratories, India