Zoetis To Expand Animal Vaccine Research and Manufacturing in China

Zoetis, a Shanghai, China-headquartered animal-health company spun off from Pfizer in 2013, has begun construction on a combined global manufacturing and supply and research and development (R&D) site in Suzhou, China and plans further investment to develop vaccines for the farmed fish industry in China.

The new facility will focus on the development and production of vaccines for swine, cattle, fish, and companion animals that help protect against the strains of diseases prevalent in China. Zoetis also marked the opening of an interim R&D facility nearby in Suzhou where the company’s Pharmaq business will begin to develop vaccines for the farmed fish industry in China. Zoetis acquired Pharmaq, a provider of vaccines for aquaculture, in 2015 for $765 million.

The planned vaccine R&D center in Suzhou will expand the innovation underway at the Zoetis R&D laboratory in Beijing, which opened in 2015. At the start-up R&D laboratory in Suzhou, Pharmaq scientists will primarily concentrate on acquiring knowledge of the disease threats within the Chinese aquaculture sector. Once Zoetis completes construction on the new combined R&D and manufacturing facility, R&D operations will transition to the new facility.

The new innovation and manufacturing facility in Suzhou will include 43,000 square meters of vaccine-manufacturing operations and laboratory space. Zoetis expects to complete construction and GMP certification by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture by 2021.

The site will feature technologies for manufacturing viral and bacterial vaccines and will include pilot-scale manufacturing for developing new vaccine products. Zoetis expects to add approximately 100 new R&D and manufacturing positions at the facility during the next two years.

The new facility will become the company’s second vaccine manufacturing site in China. In 2017, Zoetis became the sole owner of its former joint venture vaccine manufacturing site in Jilin, China, where the company has produced vaccines for swine since 2011. The new facility will also become the company’s second global manufacturing and supply facility in Suzhou. Zoetis opened a facility there in 2015, where it produces medicated feed-additive products as well as water-soluble and pre-mix products used to help raise pigs, cattle, and poultry.

Zoetis’ product portfolio includes more than 80 product lines that span five product categories, including vaccines, parasiticides, anti-infectives, medicated feed additives, and other pharmaceutical products, which serve six core animal species: pigs, dairy cattle, poultry, fish, dogs and cats.

Source: Zoetis

 

 

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