Cheerland Biotechnology (referred to as "CLB") Shanghai Base recently started to install 15,000-liter stainless steel bioreactors. This batch of ultra-large bioreactors, designed in Europe and made in China, was put into operation for the first time domestically. This is a milestone progress in China's biopharmaceutical industry. It also has breakthrough significance in terms of domestic substitution of imports, promotion of high-quality industrial development, and cultivation of "Healthy China."
The hoisting site of CLB’s 15,000-liter stainless steel bioreactors
In recent years, competition in the global biomedical field has become increasingly fierce and even affected national strategic security. In January 2022, in the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan” of the Pharmaceutical Industry Development jointly issued by nine ministries and commissions of the country, "focusing on the development of ultra-large-scale (≥10,000 liters/can) cell culture technology" was listed as a top priority in biopharmaceutical technology research. It is one of the key points of domestic substitution of imports and " neck-stuck " technology.
As is known, the 2,000-liter reactors are currently mainstream of domestic manufacturers, and very few use 4,000-liter and 5,000-liter ones. Cooperating closely with domestic equipment suppliers and based on the top European reactor design, CLB has realized the "from zero to one" domestic substitution of imported reactors and most of the upstream and downstream equipment. CLB is the first in China to use a 15,000-liter ultra-large-scale reactor. Besides this, it has undertaken independent innovations in process optimization such as workshop design, ultra-large-scale cell culture, and purification of biological products, filling China's shortcomings in biopharmaceuticals. More importantly, thanks to the great progress in the domestic substitution of imports, the construction cost of CLB's production line is much lower than that of international industry giants. For example, according to estimates, the construction cost of the 15,000-liter production line of CLB is only one-third or even lower than that of South Korea's Samsung Biotech. Based on this, CLB is very confident in greatly reducing the production cost of biological drugs, promoting the industry’s high-quality development under the policy of mass centralized procurement, and truly fulfilling the corporate mission of "producing good drugs affordable to common people."
The Yangtze River Delta Area is the core of China's biopharmaceutical industry and the key market for CLB's next step of development after the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (CLB Shenzhen Base). CLB officially landed in Shanghai Baoshan Medicine Valley in September 2022, and the construction of the first phase of the project is currently in full swing. The batch of 15,000-liter reactors under installation will reach the GMP certification and be officially put into production and operation in September this year as scheduled. In mid-2024, after the first phase of the project is fully put into use, the total production capacity will reach 270,000 liters. By the end of 2024, the total production capacity of CLB in Shenzhen and Shanghai will have reached 700,000 liters, making it the largest biopharmaceutical development and production base in Asia.
CLB team visited the Egyptian pharmaceutical company Adwia
CLB team visited the Saudi pharmaceutical company Suhair Pharma
In addition to expanding its production capacity, CLB is also targeting the international market. Based in Shenzhen and Shanghai, CLB radiates to the countries along the “Belt and Road”, Europe and the United States. It not only helps China’s pharmaceutical companies "go overseas," but also cooperates with international giants such as Novartis, Merck, and Sandoz to bring in new products and expand the domestic market. From the end of February to mid-March this year, CLB's international executive team intensively visited the Middle East and Europe, involving more than ten well-known pharmaceutical companies in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and other countries. During the visit, in-depth exchanges were conducted along with Chinese biopharmaceuticals going overseas, local market expansion, and international products entering the Chinese market. Also, the team signed cooperation memorandums with several companies and local government investment agencies. While grasping "international technology, Chinese cost, and global market", CLB plans to establish production bases in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States in the future, and strives to become an important supplier of biological drugs, especially in biosimilar drugs in the global market.
On May 6 , 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan” of Bioeconomy Development, clearly proposing to vigorously build a highland for innovation and development of the biological economy, and guiding the cluster development of innovation resources to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta Area, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for the purpose of fostering a number of world-class leading enterprises in the fields of biomedicine, bio-agriculture, and bio-manufacturing. The guidance of national policies is also the ultimate goal of CLB's development: to become a world-class leading biomedical enterprise.
In the third spring after the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" was issued, the 15,000-liter stainless steel bioreactors of CLB Shanghai is being installed in the factory, marking another important step for CLB to become a world-class leading biomedical enterprise.
