(Reuters) -India’s Syngene International on Monday said it has acquired its first biologics facility in the United States from Emergent Manufacturing Operations Baltimore, a unit of Emergent BioSolutions, for $36.5 million.
The contract research firm’s acquisition of the facility aligns with broader industry efforts in India to reduce dependence on China by expanding capabilities in other regions.
The Baltimore-Bayview facility, which the contract research firm said is strategically located near key biotech hubs in the Northeast U.S., is expected to be operational for client projects from the second half of 2025.
As part of the agreement, Emergent said it will retain the rights to secure manufacturing services and capacity at the facility in collaboration with Syngene.
Emergent shut the facility last year as part of its ongoing efforts to cut costs and pivot away from contract manufacturing business as a funding crunch forced its smaller biotech clients to cut back on research spending.
Emergent also faced quality issues at the plant during the pandemic while producing Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.
However, the U.S. drugmaker said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the facility last year and is now in compliance with the required guidelines.
This acquisition, expected to close in March 2025, will boost Syngene’s total single-use bioreactor capacity to 50,000 liters from 20,000 liters, enhancing its capabilities in large molecule discovery, development and manufacturing services.
“In the short term, we expect minor dilution of operating margins as a result of costs to be incurred in this facility,” Deepak Jain, Syngene International’s chief financial officer, said.
India’s contract research development and manufacturing organisation sector has the potential to grow seven-fold to $22 billion-$25 billion by 2035, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group.
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
