Pfizer reports that it will invest approximately $350 million in the development of a Global Biotechnology Center in the Hangzhou Economic Development Area (HEDA) in China. The facility will be Pfizer's third biotechnology center globally and the first in Asia. It will ensure the local production of biosimilar medicines that will benefit patients both in China and globally, said Pfizer.

The Global Biotechnology Center will include an advanced modular facility by GE Healthcare based on single-use biomanufacturing technology. The center is expected to be completed in 2018. Pfizer said it will work closely with Chinese regulators to bring the biosimilar products produced at the Pfizer Global Biotechnology Center in Hangzhou to market as soon as possible.

The facility will house Pfizer China's Biosimilars and Biologics Quality, Technical Service, Logistics and Engineering divisions, in addition to commercial manufacturing, and will also serve as a process development and clinical supply site. The center will create more than 150 job opportunities and establish local biotechnology expertise.

The new center will feature GE's single-use technology in a KUBioTM modular facility, which provides manufacturing flexibility at costs of between 25%and 50% of equivalent traditional facilities in a build time that can be just 18 months as opposed to the usual three years, said Pfizer in a press release announcing the facility. Carbon dioxide emissions, water and energy usage can also be reduced by 75%, the company said.

The $350 investment follows an announcement earlier this month in which Pfizer announced that it is investing more than $200 million for a new clinical biologics manufacturing facility at its site in Andover, Massachusetts. The facility is expected to be operational by January 2019.

Source: Pfizer