BeiGene forms JV to build biologics plant in Guangzhou
The Guangzhou plant – plans for which were announced in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing - will be operated by a joint-venture called BeiGene Biologics. The facility will produce commercial quantities of biopharmaceuticals for the Chinese market.
The site will be located on a 100,000 square meter site the JV will buy at the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City.
The total value of the project is RMB2.2bn ($330m).
BeiGene will contribute RMB200m with GDD’s affiliate Guangzhou GET Technology Development Co., Ltd (GET) stumping up RMB1bn. The organisations plan to raise the rest of the funding through loans.
In addition to paying for the facility, a proportion of the money raised will also be used to pay for clinical development of candidates produced there.
CEO John V. Oyler said: “It is our strategic priority to secure high-quality large-scale manufacturing capacity based on the increasing biologics opportunity we envision in China and global markets.”
BeiGene declined to share details of the plant construction plan or the likely size of its workforce when contacted by this publication.
Manufacturing network
At present, BeiGene’s manufacturing operations are based at a 140 square meter manufacturing facility in Beijing, which produces and supplies preclinical and clinical trial materials for some of the firm’s small molecule drug candidates.
The firm is building a monoclonal antibody (mAb) plant at the Suzhou Industrial Park an hour outside Shanghai, completion of which is expected this year.
