AGC will be establishing a cGMP-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 in the U.S. and Europe to be made available in Japan.
AGC entered the bioscience business in 1985, and launched its biopharmaceutical CDMO 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.