BioDuro, a global life science research and development organization backed by Advent International (“Advent”), and Sundia, a leading contract research and manufacturing organization, today announced that they have partnered to create one of the largest CRDMOs (contract research, development and manufacturing organizations) with major operations in China and the US. The combined company will operate as BioDuro-Sundia, providing fully integrated drug discovery, development and manufacturing for both API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) and drug products. Advent led a majority investment in Sundia, with Bridgewest Capital as co-investors. Financial terms were not disclosed.
BioDuro-Sundia has a combined talent pool of over 2,000 employees across 10 global sites, enabling operational scale and integrated capabilities that provide its biopharma customers a single end-to-end solution from early stage drug discovery to late stage manufacturing. With strong financials and committed investment, BioDuro-Sundia is already expanding operations to bolster its strategic locations, including two new sites in China — an R&D base in Wuxi City and a manufacturing center in Bengbu – as well as capacity to add more than 1,000 employees over the next two years.
Together, the new partnership’s teams, facilities and investments are well positioned to provide continuity of services to their combined clients ensuring more success, faster timelines, and higher confidence to achieving drug discovery and development milestones.
BioDuro-Sundia’s Board of Directors includes BioDuro’s existing Board with the addition of Cathy Yen, Chairman of Sundia. Mrs. Yen is an independent director, joining hands with industry veterans such as David Preston, Kewen Jin and Masood Tayebi.
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Jim Li, CEO of Sundia, joins the senior management team of BioDuro-Sundia as President of China Global CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) Solutions, with responsibility towards critical growth in that market, including build-out of the company’s late stage GMP and non-GMP API scale-up capabilities. Mr. Li will report directly to Cyrus K. Mirsaidi, CEO of BioDuro-Sundia.
“BioDuro and Sundia share the same core values that include respect, teamwork and tenacity,” said Cyrus K. Mirsaidi, CEO of BioDuro-Sundia. “Together, we help our biopharma partners research and develop medicines that improve the lives of patients, as we keep our clients and their patients at the core of every project we undertake. This common cause makes the BioDuro-Sundia partnership a great fit — not only for our employees, who will benefit from an extended global reach and new career opportunities, but also for our partner clients whom we help every day to speed up their precious programs to the clinic and the patients in need.”
David Preston, Chairman of BioDuro-Sundia, commented, “China represents the world’s fastest growing biopharma sector. We are thrilled to be partnering with such a well-established provider in Sundia, which already has extensive discovery and CMC offerings in China. The combined company gives us the scale, leadership, capability and talent required to outpace growth in this rapidly accelerating market. It is an example of truly being stronger together.”
Cathy Yen, Director of BioDuro-Sundia, said, “We are greatly looking forward to this new venture with BioDuro combining our discovery, R&D and CMC expertise to provide customers with a highly competitive and innovative end-to-end CRDMO solution. As a service provider, this kind of productivity creates a ripple effect to the benefit of the whole biopharma sector. It enables us to accelerate timelines for hundreds of companies and to help bring medicines to patients faster for countless programs.”
Andrew Li, Managing Director and Head of Greater China of Advent, remarked, “BioDuro and Sundia both have strong track records in providing quality CRDMO services to the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech customers, and we believe this new partnership will achieve higher value outcomes for all stakeholders.
“This deal plays to Advent’s strong track record in the healthcare sector, our Asian regional investing and our ongoing support of Chinese pharmaceutical and healthcare businesses. We look forward to helping BioDuro-Sundia grow further and to working closely with its experienced management teams to expand the firm’s Chinese and global footprint.”
Advent has significant investment experience in the healthcare industry. Over the past 30 years, the firm has invested US$8.6 billion in 47 companies in the sector across 16 countries worldwide. In addition to BioDuro, recent pharmaceutical and CRO investments include Bharat Serums and Vaccines, ICE Group, Zentiva, Somar and Syneos Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNH).
Source: Biospace
