Good Manufacturing Practice in China: Equipment Strategy and Quality Management to Compete with the West
by Vicky Qing Xia
Although the concept of good manufacturing practice (GMP) was created about half a century ago in the United States, the history of GMP biomanufacturing is relatively short in China, with the first version of GMP rules issued by the Ministry of Health in 1998. In 2010, the ministry issued its fourth version of China's GMP rules, which came into effect in March of 2011 (1). According to a recent report from BioPlan Associates, the 2010 version raised the standards to…
China Looks Inward and Outward: Investments in US and EU Biopharmaceutical Companies Are on the Rise
by Vicky Qing Xia and Eric S. Langer
The growth momentum of China's biopharmaceutical industry continues, with the China Industry Research Institute projecting that the country's biological therapeutics market could reach 300 billion Chinese yuan (~US$50 billion) in 2019. According to the second edition of our report on advances in Chinese biopharmaceutical technology, this robust growth is boosted by continuing investment into the sector (1). A clear strategic indicator of the country's intentions in biotherapeutics and biologics has been government investment in bioindustrial hubs, which by next year…
China Can Be Ignored No Longer: Long-Term Biopharmaceutical Opportunities Based on Near-Term Demonstrated Growth
China has long served as "the world's factory," but many experts in the biopharmaceutical industry have assumed that making consumer electronics, clothing, and toys for a global consumer base does not translate well to making complex biologics on the global stage. However, according to a newly released report, the biopharmaceutical market in China reached a value over US$9 billion in 2018, with the domestic monoclonal antibody (MAb) market there making up a very large percentage of that (1). Much of…
Methods on the Move: Addressing Method Transfer Challenges for the Biopharmaceutical Industry
by Mary Beth Pelletier, Jeffrey Staecker and Kathy Lee
Analytical method transfers are essential components of the current global biotechnology environment. Analytical method transfer can be defined as "a documented process that qualifies a laboratory (the receiving laboratory) to use a validated analytical test procedure that originated in another laboratory (sending laboratory), thus ensuring that the receiving laboratory has the procedural knowledge and ability to perform the transferred analytical procedure as intended" (1). The goal is to ensure that a method continues to perform in the validated state regardless…
Demand for Capacity Drives China's Biomanufacturing Expansion
by Vicky Qing Xia and Leo Cai Yang
Over the past year, most of China's biomanufacturing facilities have been engaged in active facility expansion. Based on our research of facilities under active construction, that growth has expanded total capacity in China by over 10%. Our research updates the Top 60 Biopharmaceutical Manufacturers in China directory from BioPlan Associates (1) and shows a continuing increase in new bioprocess capacity. This trend is unlikely to abate. As well as contacting our top 60 biomanufacturers, in fact, we contacted a number…
China's Biopharmaceutical Companies Target Global Markets
by Eric S. Langer, Vicky Qing Xia and Leo Cai Yang
Global perspectives of China as a major biopharmaceutical supplier have changed over the past decade. In 2008, BioPlan Associates completed its first analysis and directory of the top 60 biopharmaceutical facilities in China (1). Based on findings from our study titled Advances in Biopharmaceutical Technology in China (2), we found that China clearly held the image of a low quality manufacturer of biogeneric products almost exclusively for its domestic market. Further, concerns over intellectual property protection, contracting problems, and management…
Emerging Markets: Current Insights into the State of Global Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing
by S. Anne Montgomery and Alison D. Center
Opportunities for establishing strong biopharmaceutical capabilities are expanding across the globe. This e-book seeks to encapsulate the current state of emerging markets/countries, tracing key elements above and offering examples to show where (in the world) the biopharmaceutical industry is expanding and securing its footholds. Generally, to succeed in these markets, foreign companies must exercise efficient resource management and control, show creativity and receptiveness to cultural differences, develop new strategies, and manage expectations. Working with local partners can provide access to…
Innovating in France's Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region
by Florence Agostino-Etchetto, Kevin Romani, Stéphanie Colloud and Hervé Affagard
Lyonbiopole is a French "bio-cluster" based in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region surrounding Lyon (Figure 1). The cluster supports ambitious projects and companies in the broad health industry, counting more than 200 members including Lyonbiopole's four founders: Sanofi Pasteur (the vaccines division of multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi), bioMérieux (known worldwide for in vitro diagnostics and microbiological testing), Merial (an animal-health company that merged recently with Boehringer Ingelheim), and Becton Dickinson (supplier of flow cytometers, reagents, tools, and services). The region also is…
Introduction: Tackling the Technical and Regulatory Challenges of Biosimilar Development
In a just a few years, the biopharmaceutical industry has gone from questioning the feasibility of "follow-on biologics" (around the time of BPI's first issues) to fearing them (when we published our first supplement on the topic in 2013) to the acceptance and strategizing of today. Perhaps because of its more socialized medicine, Europe led the way in biosimilar regulation and approved its first such product nearly 10 years before the first US biosimilar launch in 2015. In between came…
Biosimilar Markets and Regulation: Which Countries Are Going All In?
by by Ronald A. Rader
The pipeline of follow-on (biosimilar and biobetter) products in development for the US, EU, and other major markets is very healthy. It includes nearly 800 biosimilars, about three-quarters of which are presumed to be targeted for major markets, and about 500 biobetters in development. Nearly 1,200 follow-on biopharmaceutical products in the development pipeline are intended to compete with more than 100 currently marketed biopharmaceuticals. This is not just an opportunity in the Western world; biosimilars development is expanding globally. But…