AGC to Establish Mammalian cGMP-Compatible Contract Facility for Biopharmaceutical Development and Production at Chiba Plant

TOKYO, Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AGC, a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, will be establishing a cGMP (*1)-compatible mammalian cell culture facility at its Chiba Plant designed to take on contracts for antibody biopharmaceutical development and production. This is made possible through the technology of CMC Biologics acquired in 2017, and will be the first high-quality mammalian cell culture-based services with proven track record in the U.S. and Europe to be made available in Japan. As a large portion of antibody biopharmaceutical products currently depends on overseas production, the company looks forward to better serving its Japanese customers and neighboring regions through this new domestic capability. The facility is scheduled to begin operations in the third quarter of 2019.

AGC entered the bioscience business in 1985, and launched its biopharmaceutical CDMO (*2) business in 2000, with primary focus on the Japanese market using microorganisms. Biomeva was acquired in 2016 and CMC Biologics in 2017, allowing AGC to realize full-scale entry into the Western biopharmaceutical CDMO market, not only using microorganisms, but mammalian cells as well. As of January 2018, the biopharmaceutical CDMO businesses at the bases in Japan, the U.S. and Europe have been integrated under the umbrella of AGC Biologics for globally unified management.

Under the management policy "AGC plus," the AGC Group will continue to position life sciences as one of its strategic businesses. It will continue to actively invest so that it can provide globally unified high-quality services to customers of all regions in the synthetic drug and biopharmaceutical businesses, areas expected to see great growth in demand. In addition, by maximizing the synergies of each location, AGC will enhance its technical capabilities and contribute to pharmaceutical companies, patients and wider society.

Notes:

(*1) cGMP: Production and quality management standards for pharmaceuticals and quasi-drugs (current Good Manufacturing Practice)
(*2) CDMO: Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization

*The company changed its name from Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. to AGC Inc. on July 1, 2018.
*Handling of personal information is governed by the company's privacy policy.

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