General News

Piramal, Fujifilm in ADC alliance

Deal parallels Carbogen Amcis-ADO agreement

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies and Piramal Healthcare UK, UK-based subsidiaries of Japanese and Indian firms respectively, have formed a strategic alliance in the contract development and manufacture of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). This echoed a similar deal in September between Swiss API manufacturer Carbogen Amcis and ADC Biotechnology.

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is one of the largest supplies of contract development and manufacturing services for biopharmaceuticals, covering recombinant proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and other large molecules expressed in microbial, mammalian and insect systems. It recently expanded its mammalian-based cGMP manufacturing facilities at Research Triangle Park, USA and Billingham, UK.

Piramal Healthcare UK, meanwhile, belongs to one of India’s largest diversified companies. It claims to be a world leader in ADCs, in addition to its API manufacturing capabilities in the UK, which like Billingham was formerly part of Avecia. Between them, the two companies have worked on over 150 biopharmaceuticals and over 300 batches of ADCs spanning over more than 30 different NCEs, including the world’s only FDA-approved ADC, Adcetris.

The earlier deal between Carbogen Amcis and ADC Bio, which is headed by former Avecia and Carbogen Amcis executive Charlie Johnson, similarly seeks to set up a formal to provide development and manufacturing services for ADCs. It will unite ADC Bio’s ‘lock and release’ solid phase immobilisation technologies for the conjugation and long-term storage of ADCs with Carbogen Amcis’s capabilities in small to large-scale GMP supply and formulation of ADCs.

Terms were not disclosed in either case, but the market for ADCs is growing rapidly, especially in oncology treatments, and is expected to reach $5 billion by 2015. In addition to Adcetris, several ADCs are in late-phase trials, with over 60 in pre-clinical testing.