Cytiva, a life sciences company and formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences, on Thursday opened a new manufacturing facility that will double capacity in the country.
Manufacturing of biologics was set to grow dramatically over the next three years and this expansion was in anticipation of the rising demand in the country. The new facility will manufacture bioprocessing equipment for vaccine makers and biosimilar makers, among others.
The company also opened an experience centre in India to help customers accelerate the development of novel therapeutics. The new facility would improve local access to equipment for Indian companies to enable them to deliver affordable therapeutics domestically and to the region, Rajan Sankaran, commercial general manager, India, Cytiva, said. Their customers include large-scale biopharma, contract manufacturers, emerging biotech and researchers with almost all vaccine and biosimilar makers among their clientele.
The company was a leading supplier of equipment for the domestic Covid-19 vaccine makers. These companies were now entering newer areas and working on expanding their portfolio and continued to drive demand, he said. They were seeing a lot of enquiries coming indicating intent to invest and expand, he said. With a lot of molecules going off patent, Indian companies would have to start work now to enable them to launch biosimilars, Sankaran said.
This facility would also be exported to the APAC region, including South Korea, Singapore and Australia. The manufacturing facility would complement Cytiva’s R&D centre for bioprocess, discovery, medical and genomic medicine businesses in Bengaluru.
According to Cytiva’s 2023 Global Biopharma Resilience Index, India was working to become a biologics manufacturing hub in line with India’s National Biopharma Mission for the development of novel and affordable vaccines and biologics. The Indian industry was focusing on increasing domestic sourcing over the next 12 months to boost supply chain resilience, Cytiva said.
The Indian biopharma sector is expected to grow to nearly $63 billion in 2025 from $45 billion in 2022. India leads the way, having the highest number of domestically approved biosimilars. With a CAGR of 24%, the biosimilar sector is projected to present a $36-billion global opportunity by 2025.
India is ranked among the top 12 worldwide destinations for biotechnology and ranks as the third-largest biotechnology hub in Asia.
