Eldered said that new unit, which opened for business in February, builds on the Swedish contract development and manufacturing group’s existing biologics capacity by adding those of recent acquisition, UK-based, Cobra Biomanufacturing.
He explained that in addition to its reputation in the biologics manufacturing field, Cobra’s presence in the US market through its commercial office in Chicago was a key driver for the original deal.
“The US is the biggest market in the world and, as such, is [a market] where you have to be present,” continued Eledred, before high that Cobra’s specialist manufacturing capability and process development team was also a factor.
And, in more general terms, Eldered said that a strong biologics manufacturing infrastructure is going to be important for CDMOs going forward.
“All the large pharma companies are rapidly expanding their biologics pipelines and if we don’t expand our capabilities in this area in this area we would be ignoring a fast growing and very significant market.”