CMC Biologics to Hire 100 to 150 Employees in Washington

CMC Biologics to Hire 100 to 150 Employees in Washington July 7, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BOTHELL, Wash. – CMC Biologics announced plans to hire 100 to 150 new staffers over the next two to three years.

CMC Biologics is a contract and development manufacturing organization (CDMO), which provides services to other pharmaceutical companies on a contract basis. Its particular area of expertise, though not the only area, is customized solutions for scaling up and handling cGMP manufacturing processes of protein-based therapeutics for pre-clinical, clinical trials and commercial development.

On Dec. 19, 2016, CMC Biologics was acquired by AGC Asahi Glass (TYO: 5201), based in Tokyo. AGC Asahi Glass manufactures glass, chemicals and high-tech materials. The deal was for approximately $511 million. In 2016, Asahi also acquired drug manufacturer Biomeva, located in Heidelberg, Germany.

“With the high level of growth and success that CMC Biologics has had over the last 15 years, I am thrilled that we now will be a central part of AGC’s pharmaceutical services business, with biologic manufacturing operations in Europe, U.S.A., and Asia,” said David Kauffmann, CMC Biologics’ chairman, in a statement in December. “AGC’s commitment to best technology solutions and longtime partnership with clients align so well with CMC Biologics’ mission to be the preferred biologics CDMO service partner for the world’s top pharmaceutical and biotech companies.”

After its expansion in Bothell, CMC expects to employ around 450 people at that site. Asahi Glass indicates it plans to have Bothell as companywide headquarters for its bioscience division.

“The U.S. market is the largest biotech market in the world,” said Gustavo Mahler, CMC Biologics’ chief executive officer, as reported by the HeraldNet. “We wanted to have our headquarters in a place where we serve most of our customers.”

Asahi Glass also operates a life sciences unit in Japan, which has a small division that manufactures drugs. Both CMC Biologics and Biomeva will keep their company names, but operate as units within Asahi Glass.

The HeraldNet notes, “With the purchase of CMC Biologics and Biomeva, Asahi Glass now owns companies that have worked with regulatory agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia.”

Currently CMC Biologics has four buildings in Bothell’s Canyon Park Business Park. Three of the buildings are in use, while the fourth is expected to be utilized for the expansion.

This year alone, CMC Biologics has inked manufacturing agreements with Altor BioScience, Genexine and CytoDyn. The deal with Miramar, Fla.-based Altor BioScience was signed in April, and involves the cGMP manufacture of Altor’s ALT-803 drug for use in Phase III clinical trials. ALT-803 is a novel IL-15 superagonist complex made up of an IL-15 mutant bound to an IL-15Ralpha/IgG1 Fc fusion protein, which stimulates NK and T cells for applications in oncology and infectious disease.

In February, CMC Biologics announced that it and Genexine (KOSDAQ: 095700), a South Korean company, had signed a manufacturing agreement for the process transfer and cGMP manufacture of Genexine’s GX-H9. GX-H9, co-developed with Handok (KOSPI: 002390), is a next-generation, long-acting recombinant human growth hormone. Handok is a South Korean biopharma company.

And also in February, CMC Biologics signed a manufacturing deal with biotech company CytoDyn (CYDY), based in Vancouver, Wash., for the process development and commercial manufacture of CytoDyn’s PRO 140, experimental monoclonal antibodies for HIV.

Back to news