BOTHELL — CMC Biologics plans to add 100 to 150 employees over the next two to three years as it becomes the hub for bioscience for its new parent company.
CMC Biologics is expected to employ as many as 450 people in Bothell after the expansion. The company manufactures drugs for other biotech firms and helps those firms navigate regulatory approval.
The company was purchased by Tokyo-based Asahi Glass Company in February for $511 million.
That includes CMC Biologics’ Bothell site as well as locations in Berkeley, California, and Copenhagen, Denmark, where it was founded in 2001 as a startup company.
Asahi also last year purchased drug manufacturer Biomeva in Heidelberg, Germany. With the purchases, Asahi Glass wants to make Bothell the companywide headquarters for the bioscience division.
“The U.S. market is the largest biotech market in the world,” said Gustavo Mahler, CMC Biologics’ CEO. “We wanted to have our headquarters in a place where we serve most of our customers.”
He added that Bothell is large in terms of a footprint and revenue. Asahi Glass, or AGC, is known for producing glass, chemicals and high-tech materials. Asahi Glass also has a life sciences unit in Japan, with a small division devoted to manufacturing medicine. CMC Biologics and Biomeva are keeping their company names but will operate as units within the company. The companies take drugs developed by biotech firms or pharmaceutical companies and scale production up to get the drugs to market.
Along the way, the companies work with regulatory agencies. 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.
The company works with customers from around the world and have seen a strong business. He expects the expansion will serve both existing and future customers.
CMC Biologics has four buildings in the Canyon Park Business Park. Only three of those buildings are occupied; the fourth is planned for expansion.
The company looking to hire workers in manufacturing.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
