Lonza has started up the mid-scale manufacturing assets at its API facility in Nansha in China’s Guangdong province. The site is fully integrated within Lonza’s global small molecules manufacturing network and this expansion has increased employee numbers there by 70 to around 330.

CDMO Cambrex has agreed to buy Snapdragon Chemistry, a US-based provider of chemical process development services to the biopharma sector. Terms were not disclosed. This came two months after regulatory approval was denied to Asymchem Laboratories’ acquisition of Snapdragon.

Kao has signed an agreement with its Japanese compatriot Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare, a specialist in over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, to collaborate in joint development in skin care, using each other's skin- and health-related fundamental and formulation technologies. Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare will use Kao's skin product formulation technology to develop OTC drugs.

Pharmaceutical CDMOs are continuing to invest in a buoyant market. We report from CPHI Frankfurt

The mood among CDMOs remained buoyant at the rebranded CPHI Frankfurt show, which took place on 1-3 November. There were several announcements of major investments and most of the exhibitors SCM spoke to were optimistic about continued rapid growth, particularly in new modalities of all kinds.

Following launch at a symposium in Boston in September, Ampac Fine Chemicals (AFC), an SK Pharmteco company, has announced the development of a new series of skid-based modules for continuous flow processes. These, it claims, will revolutionise the technique, closing the gap between benchtop development with microreactors and manufacturing scale.

Global Healthcare Opportunities, a European specialist investor in global healthcare, and The Vistria Group, a middle-market private investment firm, have agreed to acquire US-based CDMO Alcami from Madison Dearborn Partners and Ampersand Capital Partners. They will each have 50% stakes.

Vicky Xia and Joel Ranck of BioPlan share some first insights from the CPHI Annual Report

Having already benefitted from a COVID-based boom in the last two years, outsourcing of biologics globally is set to continue growing significantly in 2023. No production cliff is expected, even as COVID-related contracts reduce in scale, but the rapid growth of China’s biologics sector will slow.