A new report finds China supplies many key pharmaceutical ingredients to the U.S. market. Bayer opened a new biotech incubator in Beijing. A first-of-its-kind biosimilar originally developed by Shanghai Henlius Biotech scored FDA approval. And more.
1. U.S. ‘chained to China’ on pharma supply (report)
Even as the industry’s top innovative drugmakers work to bolster their U.S. production footprints, many of those projects focus on the later stages of manufacturing, leaving a gap around domestically sourced drug building blocks. China, meanwhile, remains a key supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients to the U.S., and especially those for generic medicines. The finding comes from an annual report (PDF) to Congress from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The report provides several recommendations to bolster the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain, including expanded FDA authorities.
After breaking ground in 2023, Bayer has opened its biotech incubator in Beijing. Upon its opening, the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center will host Puhe BioPharma and Youngen Technology. The facility will assist local companies with innovative medicines in their efforts to bring the drugs to global markets.
Organon and Henlius Biotech’s Poherdy has become the first biosimilar referencing Roche’s Perjeta to be approved by the FDA. The FDA granted the copycat an interchangeable tag for all existing indications of the original HER2 antibody. The nod came less than three months after the FDA cleared the partners’ biosimilars to Amgen’s bone med duo Prolia and Xgeva.
4. Lilly inks $2.6B collab with Korea’s ABL Bio (release)
Korea’s ABL Bio has linked arms with another Big Pharma company for its blood-brain barrier tech. This time, Eli Lilly will pay $40 million upfront and up to $2.6 billion to work with ABL across modalities and therapeutic areas. In addition, Lilly is making an equity investment worth 22 billion Korean won ($15 million), which ABL plans to use to advance its Grabody platform and bispecific antibody-drug conjugates.
Celltrion continues its business expansion beyond biosimilars. In a potential $350 million-plus deal, the Korean company obtained the option to use compatriot biotech TriOar’s tumor microenvironment-selective antibody platform for up to six targets. The move came a few days after Celltrion announced a deal for two preclinical autoimmune assets from Kaigene.
In the U.S., Celltrion will spend up to 700 billion Korean won ($478 million) to upgrade the active pharmaceutical ingredient facility the Korean company recently bought from Eli Lilly for about $330 million. The investment in the Branchburg, New Jersey, plant is meant to address U.S. pharmaceutical tariffs, Celltrion said.