(MENAFN-Asia Times)
WuXi Biologics of China has announced a 10-year investment plan to identify a world-class contract pharmaceutical production facility in Singapore. The Economic Development Board of Singapore (EDB) is supporting the project.
EDB President Dr. Beh Swan Gin said: “The investments will make Singapore a vital node in the company’s global research, progression and production network. This is a testament to Singapore’s position as a global biopharmaceutical hub and will be our appeal to biotech innovators and beginners. “UPS. “
In its press release, WuXi Biologics that:
“This investment will identify a fully integrated CRDMO center in Singapore, adding a center for studies and progression services and large-scale drug and pharmaceutical production services for biologics. “
“The investment strengthens WuXi Biologics’ global research, progression and production network with more nodes to meet the developing demand of consumers around the world for end-to-end services. . . “
CRDMO stands for Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization. More commonly abbreviated as CDMO, it is, as the Japanese pharmaceutical company Seikagaku explains, “a company that supplies comprehensive drug development and production to pharmaceutical companies, adding contract drug production, manufacturing pharmaceutical formula plans at the progression stage, manufacturing investigational drugs, and optimizing production conditions.
CDMOs are active in a wide range of pharmaceutical applications, including cardiovascular disease, oncology, respiratory disorders, neurology, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases; vaccines (Covid and non-Covid), genetic treatments and other complex biologics.
WuXi Biologics is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing CDMOs, with profits rising 83% to RMB 10. 3 billion (US$1. 5 billion at the current exchange rate) in 2021 and increasing 10-fold over the past five years. By comparison, leader Lonza in Switzerland posted profits of $5600 million last year. Samsung Biologics generated profits of $1200 million.
Other primary CDMOs come with Catalent and Thermo-Fisher in the U. S. In the US, Recipharm in Sweden, Siegfried in Switzerland, Fujifilm in Japan and Boehringer Ingelheim in Germany.
WuXi ranks first globally with a revenue-based market share of 10. 3% in 2021 compared to Lonza’s 18. 9%, but Pharma Boardroom, an online page aimed at executives, consultants, regulators and vendors dealing with healthcare and life sciences, ranks fourth. Problems with the classification of the source of income appear in the disparity.
WuXi Biologics has plants in China, the United States, Germany, Ireland and Singapore, and has more than 10,000 employees worldwide. Current capacity nearly tripled in 2021 and is expected to nearly triple through 2025.
In 2018, the company built a factory in Ireland and in 2020 built one in Boston. In 2021, it bought the production facilities of Bayer in Germany and Pfizer in China, and acquired the Chinese company CMAB Biopharma.
In that year, North America accounted for 51% of revenues, China 24%, the EU 22% and the rest of the world 3%. According to management, the 20 largest pharmaceutical corporations in the world now operate with WuXi Biologics.
Prescient Market and Consulting
Several points are expected to contribute to this growth, adding an aging global population, a growing number of infections, increased investment in healthcare, the trend toward outsourcing, and the proliferation of biopharmaceutical corporations without the budget or preference to build their own factories.
The industry is also consolidating as giant corporations buy their smaller competition and make significant investments to keep up or exceed the rate of market expansion. By 2025, WuXi Biologics expects the 10 most sensible corporations to have more than 80% of the market.
Wuxi Biologics has attracted the attention of the U. S. government. The U. S. economy has expanded its efforts to cripple China’s economy from cell phones and semiconductors to health care.
Last February, the company issued the following statement:
“We have been informed of a recent announcement through the U. S. Department of Commerce. UU. de that two subsidiaries of WuXi Biologics (Cayman) in Shanghai and Wuxi will be added to the department’s ‘non-verified list’ (UVL) on February 8, 2022. We perceive that the explanation for why this action is due to the fact that U. S. government agencies are responsible for the fact that U. S. government agencies are responsible for this action. UU. no have adopted the end-use verifications required for certain appliances to be exported through U. S. suppliers. UU. . . . “»
“WuXi Biologics imports certain hardware filters for bioreactors and some hollow fiber filters that are subject to U. S. exports. But they have obtained approval from the Department of Commerce in the last 10 years. We comply with all U. S. export regulations. UU. No re-export or resell those parts to any other entity. The U. S. Department of Commerce The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has a regime procedure to determine the correct use (i. e. , own use, not resale) of those found on the site. This procedure has not been completed in the last two years. due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This has no impact on our business or ongoing centers for global partners. The impact on our imports is minimal, as no such apparatus is required after the structure of services in Shanghai and Wuxi. We welcome inspection at any time for authorization and removal from this list. We are also seeking interim measures to remove those subsidiaries from the list prior to inspection.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security defines the unverified list as “a list of parts that the BIS in intelligent religion has not been able to verify. License exceptions cannot be used for exports, re-exports, or transfers (in-country) to unverified parties. A declaration of those parts must be received before parts that are not subject to a licensing requirement are submitted. »
An unchecked list search shows that Wuxi Biologics Co,Ltd in Wuxi and Wuxi Biologics (Shanghai) Co,Ltd are still on it. But as he says, the company’s business turned out to have continued to grow unhindered.
The percentage value of WuXi Biologics (Cayman), which is indexed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, fell almost partly between February 7 and March 15, but has since recovered.
On July 5, Reuters reported that the Chinese government had a legal U. S. export officer. He used to inspect a company that, according to reported resources, was WuXi Biologics. then he set out to wait. WuXi Biologics had no comment.
It remains to be seen what effect this factor will or will not have on the company’s investment plans in Singapore. As tensions rise over Taiwan, the U. S. economic police are coming to the ground. The US may disagree with Singapore’s economic development policy.
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