Recent Developments in APAC CDMO Market
● June 2022: WuXi Biologics, a global CRDMO service company, launches the first commercial drug product facility for PreFilled Syringes. GMP operation of its new drug product facility DP5 (ninth operational drug product facility in the glWuXi Biologics) located in Wuxi, China. Increases pre-filled syringes (PFS) capacity to 17 million units per year
● May 2022: Taiwan-based CDMO Bora Pharmaceuticals established Bora Biologics Co., Ltd., a CDMO platform for biologics for innovative drug development. As part of its 5-year growth plan, Bora will be investing up to $100 million in the acquisition of Eden Biologics’ CDMO assets in Taiwan
● May 2022: India’s CDMO, Piramal Pharma Limited, announced the launch of a new production block with an $11 million investment to expand its global oral solid dosage form (OSD) capabilities, bringing the facility’s total capacity to 4.5 billion doses
● May 2022: South Korean multinational, Lotte Corporation, acquired Bristol Myers Squibb’s manufacturing facility in East Syracuse, New York. The deal is reportedly worth $160 million with the new unit focusing on biologics CDMO. The plant can annually make 35,000 liters of drug substances.
● April 2022: Japan-based Asahi Kasei Medical announced the acquisition of Bionova Scientific, LLC, a CDMO for developing nextgeneration antibody-based drugs and other biopharmaceuticals
● February 2022: China-based CDMO Asymchem Inc. plans to buy Snapdragon Chemistry, a US-based company focused on continuous manufacturing and early-stage chemical process development services for $57.94 million. This transaction is aimed at the expansion of the business of the Chinese CDMO in the US.
● January 2022: GenScript ProBio, the gene therapy CDMO division of GenScript announced the construction of its newest 34,000 sqm plasmid and viral vector stateof-the-art manufacturing facility. GenScript ProBio supports many mRNA vaccine enterprises in China to obtain clinical approvals by NMPA and helped mRNA vaccine projects from South Korea and the United States companies to obtain clinical approvals in South Korea and Japan.
● December 2021: GenScript ProBio (US) opened China’s most prominent commercial GMP plasmid manufacturing facility. The 6,400 sqm manufacturing plant offers a onestop service for plasmids - from the preclinical study (IIT) to the investigational new drug (IND) filing to clinical trial and commercial manufacturing. Also produces high-quality cell and gene therapy mRNA drugs.
● December 2021: Merck’s Hilleman Laboratories ties up a $58 million investment at new Singapore vaccine hub
● July 2021: Samsung BioLogics (South Korea) entered into a Development and Manufacturing Agreement with Kineta (US) for Anti-VISTA Antibody Immunotherapy
● April 2021: Global firm Lonza and Chinese pharma company Junshi Biosciences announced plans to expand their collaboration for biologics development and manufacturing.
● March 2021: Germany- based Vetter, a global CDMO (prefilled drug-delivery systems), announced the opening of a new business entity in Shanghai, China. The new fourth office in the APAC region, following business development activities in the Singapore office, sales offices in Japan and South Korea, further strengthening its footprint in the Asia Pacific region
● March 2021: Chinese pharma services firm Pharmaron Beijing Co.; bought a facility in Europe recently from AbbVie for $118.7 million taking over Allergan Biologics Limited (ABL) business, located in Liverpool, UK. So China with its perception to grow with USA and Europe big pharma entities is establishing China-based CDMOs in these international business markets.
● February 2021: ICON plc, a global provider of outsourced drug and device development and commercialization services acquired Singapore local firm PRA Health Sciences, Inc. for $12 billion helping ICON plc to penetrate the ASEAN economies.
● January 2021: Sanofi as a mega-CDMO helped Pfizer produce its COVID-19 vaccine, while Bayer and CureVac entered into a multifaceted partnership in order to roll out 160 million vaccine doses for 2022.