On Wednesday, in a statement Pfizer Inc said, it has decided to stop producing biosimilar products in China; it has also decided to sell one of its business unit in the eastern city of Hangzhou to WuXi Biologics Inc.

“The site was planned to manufacture three biosimilars for the China market,” said the company. “Pfizer commercially and technically evaluated other products for the site but none reached the level of activity for the scale of the site.”

The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly relying on costly biologic drugs, to boost revenues, made from living organisms that are tougher and more expensive to make than conventional medicines with chemical ingredients.

Neither Pfizer nor WuXi disclosed the value of the deal; they also did not disclose the products that will be made after the transaction closes; the deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.

In a statement WuXi said, “the deal would allow it to address surging manufacturing demand for drug substances and drug products” while adding, the facilities are equipped with bioreactors which are capable of filing vials and syringes.

Incidentally, WuXi also makes vaccine substances for a COVID-19 shot developed by AstraZeneca PLC; it did not comment whether the plant would turn out such substances.

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