Shanghai's Biopharma Policy Boosts Lepure Bio, Which Strengthens Supply Chain with Feeding Smart Acquisition

On July 30, Shanghai released the “Several Opinions on Supporting Full-Chain Innovative Development of the Biopharmaceutical Industry,” which provides detailed explanations and regulations through 37 specific measures across eight key areas on how the city will support the high-quality development of its biopharmaceutical industry over the next five years.

The “Opinions” are highly practical, offering clear and actionable support policies ranging from basic research to specific industry sub-sectors, and covering corporate investment and financing, industrial chain integration, and internationalization.

Wang Feng, Co-founder and CEO of Shanghai LePure Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a leading domestic full-chain bioprocessing service provider, stated, “This policy document is highly impactful, providing significant encouragement and tangible benefits to supply chain enterprises like LePure Biotechnology. As one of the earliest domestic supply chain companies to overcome critical bottlenecks in the upstream biopharmaceutical industry through independent R&D and innovation, LePure Biotechnology has become one of the few providers in China capable of delivering full-chain process technologies and comprehensive solutions for upstream consumables, equipment, and processes. This policy has further strengthened our confidence, and we will continue to deepen our commitment and implement our strategy along this direction.”

As the policy was released, LePure Biotech also announced that it had completed its acquisition of a controlling stake in Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing (Shanghai) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing”). Following the completion of this transaction, LePure Biotech will further expand the application scenarios of its bioreactor products across antibodies, vaccines, cell therapies, scientific research, and synthetic biology. The company aims to provide customers with full-lifecycle bioreactors and comprehensive cell culture solutions, spanning from small-scale R&D trials to large-scale production.

Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing, established in 2021, specializes in the R&D, production, and manufacturing of bioreactors and fermenters, software and automation control systems, as well as research into various related application processes. Amidst the wave of domestic substitution, Feiding’s self-developed and self-manufactured products—including glass bioreactors, rocking bioreactors, and single-use bioreactors—have rapidly captured market share. Meanwhile, Feiding’s proprietary system software can quickly and conveniently replace widely used foreign software on the market, helping customers reduce costs and increase efficiency while effectively enhancing supply chain security.

Following the acquisition strategy of “collaboration first, integration later,” LePure Biotech had collaborated with Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing for many years prior to the acquisition, gaining a thorough understanding of its leadership team, technologies, and products. Upon completion of the acquisition, Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing will be fully integrated into LePure Biotech Group’s cell culture business segment.

Zou Yang, Vice President of R&D at LePure Biologics Group and Head of the Pharmaceutical Equipment & Cell Culture Business Division, stated, “Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing is a company deeply rooted in the biopharmaceutical sector, having secured its market position through unique advantages. First, the Feiding team possesses extensive expertise in eukaryotic cell culture bioprocessing, demonstrating remarkable capability in integrating process applications with product development. Second, Feiding boasts industry-leading software development capabilities with its independently developed software systems, breaking the market monopoly previously held by foreign software vendors such as Siemens. This will also create strong synergies with LePure Biologics’ existing product portfolio.”

Leveraging synergies in R&D and shared technological foundations, LePure Biotech and Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing have initiated deep integration at the research and development level. In the future, Feiding’s self-developed software systems will be integrated into LePure Biotech’s current product platform to maximize value and achieve optimal cost-effectiveness.

Notably, Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing’s benchtop bioreactors are primarily applied in early-stage R&D small-scale trials and laboratory research scenarios. This acquisition of Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing also marks LePure Biotech’s strategic deepening in the early-stage R&D customer segment and scientific research market. By covering stages including R&D (small-scale trials), pilot-scale testing, and production, LePure further integrates the customer demand chain, thereby achieving comprehensive empowerment for its clients.

While actively pursuing external growth opportunities, LePure Biologics places particular emphasis on “outside-in” transformation, proactively integrating its various business segments and implementing a resource allocation strategy of “eliminating redundancies, nurturing excellence, and prioritizing the future” to achieve efficient internal organizational growth.

For example, since Kangsheng Biotech primarily focuses on culture media development and production operations, which differentiates its product categories from LePure Biotech’s existing offerings, LePure adopted an integration strategy of “marketing integration and R&D collaboration” after acquiring Kangsheng Biotech. Under this strategy, LePure Biotech and Kangsheng Biotech jointly developed several blockbuster culture media products, achieving bidirectional business growth.

In recent years, the number of domestic manufacturers of biopharmaceutical consumables has surged, intensifying market competition and subjecting companies to dual pressures on pricing and profitability. In response to these changes and pressures, LePure Biotech has proactively adjusted its strategy. On the demand side, it has tapped into emerging markets such as synthetic biology and cell therapy, while expanding into overseas markets in Europe and the United States to seek incremental growth. On the operational side, the company has continuously pursued cost reduction and efficiency improvements by identifying high-quality niche manufacturers like Feiding Intelligent Manufacturing. Through this dual approach of internal optimization and external collaboration, LePure Biotech is promoting the overall localization of the supply chain to reduce the total cost of the bioprocessing supply chain.

“In the newly released ‘Opinions’ document, it is explicitly proposed to support enterprises in becoming larger and stronger through mergers and acquisitions. Support is also extended for companies to carry out M&A investments along the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. LePure Biotech’s external growth strategy has actually been following this general direction. The policy-level endorsement of this direction further encourages us to continue actively laying out our future plans,” said Wang Feng.