Pfizer investing $350 million in China biosimilars and R&D site

US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) today announced that it will invest around $350 million in the development of a state-of-the-art Global Biotechnology Center at a ground-breaking ceremony in the Hangzhou Economic Development Area (HEDA) in China.

This innovative facility will be Pfizer’s third biotechnology center globally and the first in Asia. It will ensure the local production of high-quality, affordable biosimilar medicines that will benefit patients both in China and throughout the world. The establishment of the Pfizer Global Biotechnology Center also represents further investment in R&D and clinical research across China, which will further contribute to China’s growing biopharmaceutical industry and economy.

The new center will feature GE Healthcare’s (NYSE: GE) single-use technology in a KUBio modular facility, which increases speed-to-market and 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. Just last month, Taiwan’s JHL Biotech opened a new facility in China which uses GE’s KUBio manufacturing solution to produce biosimilars and monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for late–stage clinical trials and commercial supply.