Kyowa Hakko Kirin completes $70m mAb manufacturing plant in Japan
The HB6 plant in Takasaki city – about 100km north-west of Tokyo – will begin manufacturing a number of active pharmaceutical ingredients later this year, with commercial production for the Japanese, US and European markets set to commence in 2019.
The 4,000m2 facility cost around ¥7.1bn ($70m) and is equipped with a 12,000 L bioreactor which the firm says is one of the largest of its kind in Japan.
The plant will focus on monoclonal antibodies, but the firm has not revealed which products in its pipeline may be made there.
The firm’s lead is brodalumab, a mAb being developed with Amgen for Psoriasis, approved in Japan, but there are also several mAbs in the Phase III stage, including benralizumab being co-developed with AstraZeneca to target asthma.
Completion of the plant had originally been set for April this year, but Kyowa Hakko Kirin did not respond to this publication when contacted as to why there was a delay.
In April 2014, the firm completed construction of the HA4 plant at the Takasaki site. The plant is of comparable size to the HB6 facility and also boasts a 12,000L stainless steel bioreactor.
