Syngene adding biologics capacity through $86m Stelis plant

The facility in Bangalore, India – initially built to manufacture COVID vaccines – will bring Syngene International 20,000 liters of installed biologics drug substance capacity.

Stelis Biopharma’s Unit 3 in Bangalore began life as a dedicated plant for the production of Covid vaccine Sputnik Light, but following decreased demand due to both the wain of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, parent company Strides has agreed to offload the plant.

Syngene, a subsidiary of Biocon, announced it is to add the plant to its biologics network this week, paying INR 702 Crores ($86 million) and pledging a further INR 100 Crores ($12 million) to convert the facility into a monoclonal antibody manufacturing plant.

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mauromod

“This acquisition strengthens our growing position as a leading biologics contract development and manufacturing service provider and adds drug substance capacity and a drug product capability,” said Syngene CEO Jonathan Hunt.

Currently Syngene has a single-use biologics manufacturing facility also in Bangalore. This new facility will effectively replace an internal capex investment program planned for the next threes, the company said.

Hunt added the plant, which is expected to be operational in 2024 following an upgrade and conversion, will support growing demand for “biologics manufacturing capacity from sectors ranging from large pharma to emerging biotech companies.”

Specifically, the facility brings process development capacity up to 100 L, scale-up via 10 x 200 L tanks, and 10 x 2,000 L single-use vessels. The site has the potential for future expansion up to a further 20,000 L of biologics drug substance manufacturing capacity.

The plant also has drug product capabilities including two high-speed vial lines with an annual production capacity of 400 million vials (liquid and lyophilized).