Eric Langer
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Trends in Asia biomanufacturing stood out this year in BioPlan Associates' 8th Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production (1). The study asked respondents to consider their five-year time horizon to 2015 and evaluate their facility's current plans
for international (i.e., nondomestic) capacity expansion. For the first time, China ranked highest in the world with 17% of
respondents identifying the country as a potential biomanufacturing outsourcing destination. India was the choice of 13.2%
of respondents, and Singapore was selected by 9.5% of respondents. The United States was chosen by 15.1% of respondents (see
Figure 1). The results show that the demand for biomanufacturing capacity in Asia in serving regional or domestic markets
can outweigh managerial concerns when offshoring manufacturing. This year's survey had responses from 352 global biomanufacturers
and covered issues associated with production bottlenecks, budget trends, use of disposables, downstream production, and quality
management (1).
Figure 1: Destination for international outsourcing of biomanufacturing. (FIGURES 1 AND 2 ARE COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
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These findings support the continuing rise of Asia as a global biomanufacturing power. In coming years, many biopharmaceuticals
originally launched in Western markets in the 1980s and 1990s, including many blockbusters, will be coming off patent. Multiple
biosimilar and bio-better versions are likely to be marketed for each product, thereby resulting in a significant expansion
of companies developing and manufacturing biopharmaceuticals. Although the great majority of biopharmaceutical manufacturing
and consumption in emerging markets currently involves biogenerics or other copies of products developed by Western innovator
companies, these foreign markets, although still relatively small, are growing at a more rapid pace than major Western markets.
Inside the numbers
According to BioPlan's recently released Top 1000 Global Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Index, China holds 8.5% of the global concentration of capacity and employment, India 8.0%, and Japan and other Asian countries 9.2%;
these areas are growing more rapidly in biomanufacturing capacity than the global average. Asia-Pacific has one of the largest
concentration of global biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity (2). Asia's combined share of 25.7% of global concentration
of capacity and employment virtually matches Europe's share at 26.2% and is gaining on North America's share of 37.5%. These
results show that the biopharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly international in scope and is beginning to move
away from its exclusively US and European focus as larger manufacturers locate in emerging markets to support regional markets
and provide backup manufacturing for products in major markets. The BioPlan study suggests that biopharmaceutical research
and development, both for biosimilars and innovative products, is increasing in China, India, Russia, and select emerging
markets (2).
Also, many large Chinese and Indian companies are developing commercial-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities to
serve domestic and regional needs. This trend is evident in vaccine manufacturing. An important development occurred earlier
this year in March, when the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that China's State Food and Drug Administration was
shown to comply with international standards for vaccine regulation. With a regulatory system for vaccines documented to comply
with international standards, vaccine manufacturers in China are now eligible to apply for WHO prequalification of specific
products. Prequalification, which is a guarantee that a specific vaccine meets international standards of quality, safety,
and efficacy, is a prerequisite for manufacturers to supply to countries through UN procuring agencies (3).
