Many companies in India, China and to an extent Korea have established a strong position in contract manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, but they still need to build their strength in biologics manufacturing. Besides, it is unlikely that the path of success in biologics manufacturing will be as smooth and defined as that in chemical drugs, given that it demands complex manufacturing processes with higher probability of failure.

"There are significant opportunities for biologics manufacturing in Asia, a promising market with relatively low costs that is attracting significant interest from major biopharma companies. Key biomedical hubs are under development in countries such as China, India and Singapore," says Mr Christian Gabel, vice president, Quintiles.

Today, Singapore's A-Bio, China's AutekBiom, India's Biocon, Kemwell, Reliance Life Science and Dr Reddy's Labs, Korea's Samsung and Celltrion, and Malaysia's Alpha Biologics and InnoBio are some of the leading biologics manufacturers of the region.

Companies in Asia have adopted several strategies to enter into and strengthen their biologics manufacturing. Some of them have set up their own manufacturing facilities, while others have joined hands with multinational companies to achieve higher growth.

This has attracted global investment and facilities in the region are coming up with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) compliance. In terms of regulatory compliance, Indian companies have been ahead of the Chinese companies in meeting standards of cGMP required by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).