China's Innovent Biologics is looking to build the largest GMP biologics plant in China, a belt currently held by WuXi PharmaTech ($WX), and the company has $25 million in new investments to get it done.
The company is building out its Suzhou campus and plans to construct a 90,000-square-meter commercial biologics plant that is compliant with FDA and European Medicines Agency standards, FiercePharmaManufacturing reports. Innovent didn't say when the new plant will be good to go at full-scale, but once it is, it will be China's biggest biologics facility up to Western snuff, according to the company. Innovent will tap its recent $25 million Series B to fund the project, drawing cash from Eli Lilly ($LLY) and Fidelity.
Just last month, WuXi launched a biologics manufacturing facility of its own in Shanghai, the first in China to meet GMP, the CRO said. WuXi's plant exists in part to serve the company's joint venture with AstraZeneca ($AZN), but the facility is also designed to woo international clients looking for a foothold in biologics.
All of this comes amid a flurry of biologics activity in Asia, including WuXi's expansion and Novartis' ($NVS) plan to spend $500 million on a biologics manufacturing plant in Singapore, eyeing a 2016 opening.
- read the FiercePharmaManufacturing story
- check out Innovent's release