Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sanofi told a pharma trade journal that the business will be transferred to Adragos through a company split by the first quarter of 2023.

Adragos plans to sign a five-year supply agreement with the French drugmaker’s Japanese arm, thereby becoming a strategic partner for Sanofi in a market that Adragos counts as one of its three core geographic areas and at the same time rising into the ranks of Japan’s three largest pure-play CDMOs.

The CDMO also has plans to introduce new companies from Europe, North America as well as the Japanese domestic market to the 50-year-old site that as part of Sanofi has focused on manufacturing oral solids, sterile liquids as well as conducting packing, visual inspection, and retesting services for the Japanese and Asian markets.

Currently, Sanofi supplies all of its Japanese customers from Kawagoe. In future, Adragos will have the capability to supply both solid and injectable formulations to this market from one site. The Munich company also has a campus at Toride, near Tokyo, where it performs visual inspection and packaging for Japan and other Asian countries. In Europe, it has two other sites, at Livron, France, and Leipzig, Germany.

The CDMO said it plans to retain all of the Japanese site’s current 200-strong workforce, which it described as highly experienced and well trained. Additionally, it wants to expand the site's services and capabilities for Sanofi and its own future customers.

Adragos Pharma CEO Andreas Raabe said the deal with Sanofi is “a key pillar in building a globally leading CDMO.” Japan, he commented, “ranks among the largest and most attractive global pharma markets, yet CDMO activities are relatively nascent.”

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist