The coronavirus pandemic and the trade war between China and the US have triggered the geopolitical shift in supply chains. Moving production back home, buying shares, acquiring or leasing facilities, the biopharmaceutical industry in Taiwan is heading overseas to seize the growing trend on onshore manufacturing.  

 “R&D in Taiwan, manufacturing in the US/Europe” has now emerged from one and another- CH Biotech, Easywell Biomedicals, Tanvex Biopharma and Polaris Group set manufacturing sites in US, Bora Pharmaceuticals acquired GSK plant in Canada with a deal tied to existing orders and advanced technologies.  

TCI Bio has recently joined its peers in acquisitions, taking over Utah-based production facility and office from Nasdaq-listed NewAge. The Utah site in Q4 will be where TCI headquarters in US, it is expected to generate from drug making nearly $3bn by 2023.   

See related: TCI Bio inks manufacturing deal with US company

Buying shares can be a strategic move, too, as this is the case seen in Standard Chem & Pharm and Easywell Biomedicals. The policy for bringing drug production back to US and providing incentives for generic drugs and foreign pharmaceutical companies is a catalyst for deals as such.  

See related: Taiwan’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors join hands in the Post-COVID economy

In terms of face wearing, the following companies have had production lines up and running overseas. Medtecs and Mytrex Health Technologies have partnered in the Philippines for facemask production. Both companies also invested in Texas and North Carolina, US, with facilities making face masks up to 60 million and 10 million per month, respectively.

Medical device manufacturer Apex Medical has had products rolled out in Europe over a decade. Having acquired SLK, a German-based leading supplier for bedsore care products, Apex’s commercial portfolio is now inclusive of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) and patient lifts.

In Q4, 2018, Apex purchased a factory as well in a suburb of Dortmund, Germany, where Apex saw the proximity to Europe and the quality of talents. In addition to optimising SLK operations, the buying complements Apex’s operational needs for manufacturing, logistics and administrative work, and enables Apex to provide services such as product management, warehousing and transportation logistics.

News compiled by IBMI; Source: Commercial Times