Boehringer unveils biopharma plant plan for China
pharmafile | June 6, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Boehringer Ingelheim, China
Boehringer Ingelheim has said it intends to construct a cell-culture biopharmaceutical production facility in China offering contract R&D and manufacturing services.
The unit will be set up as a joint venture with China’s Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Co (ZJ Base) and will be located in Pudong, Shanghai, said the German firm, which said it will invest around €35 million ($46 million) in the project.
The new facility will employ around 65 staff and when it comes online in early 2016 will be the first facility of its type operated by an international company in China, according to Boehringer.
Boehringer is one of the largest contract manufacturers of biologic drugs and already operates bioproduction facilities in Biberach, Germany, Vienna in Austria, and Fremont in the US.
The Pudong facility will be the outsourcing division’s first commercial-scale plant in Asia, providing a range of services including clinical and development work to Chinese and multinational customers.
The general manager of ZJ Base, Lanzhong Wang, said there is a cluster of small and medium-sized companies operate in the vicinity of the plant that could benefit from access to this type of production capability.
The new plant will allow Boehringer to “participate in the growing demand for high quality biopharmaceuticals in China,” said Christian Boehringer, chairman of the group’s shareholders committee.
Boehringer already operates a 10-year-old facility in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, which makes its several of its own products including Micardis (telmisartan) for high blood pressure, recently approved anticoagulant Pradaxa (dabigatran) and Spiriva (tiotropium) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Earlier this year Boehringer said it would invest €86 million to upgrade capacity at the Zhangjiang plant, raising the number of workers it employs from 240 to around 350 and making it “one of our core global operating units,” according to head of biopharma operations Prof Wolfram Carius.
The company also has a five-year-old JV in the area of chemical active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supply with Zhejiang Hisoar Pharma.
Across all its divisions, Boehringer saw Chinese sales rise by a third to €358 million last year, making it the 15th-largest drugmaker in the country.
Phil Taylor
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