Medium Bank's Wang Yantao: Domestic Cell Culture Media Gains Edge, Integrated Upstream Solutions Drive Cost Reduction and Efficiency for Biopharma

Wang Yantao, Chairman and CEO of Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Around 10:00 PM on the evening of March 27, 2022, after receiving the notification of Shanghai’s epidemic-related lockdown,Wang Yantao, Chairman and CEO of Medium Bank BiotechnologyConvene a meeting immediately, finalize the list of personnel stationed at the company within one hour, and lead the team to complete all on-site deployment tasks by 5:00 AM the following day. The sole objective of these measures is to ensure a stable supply of upstream raw materials for biopharmaceutical clients, including those producing COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 test kits.

For over two months, CEO Wang Yantao has led a 16-member team comprising core personnel from R&D, production, quality control, and warehousing to remain stationed at the company. During the critical period of epidemic prevention and control, each team member shouldered several times their usual workload, with all colleagues united and without complaint. It is gratifying to note that, through everyone’s concerted efforts, Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ensured uninterrupted R&D, normal production operations, stable product quality, and continuous shipments during this exceptional period, sparing no expense to safeguard customers’ production and R&D progress. As an upstream raw material supplier for manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and other products, the company bears even greater responsibility.

With two decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Wang Yantao is acutely aware of the critical importance of a stable upstream supply chain for domestic biopharmaceutical companies. Driven by the vision of revitalizing China’s national industry, he has been steadfastly advancing the localization of high-end cell culture media, a key raw material in the upstream sector.

Ensuring Uninterrupted Shipments During Special Periods

Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as “MediumBank Biotechnology”) was established in 2019. It is a service provider dedicated to offering high-performance, standardized chemically defined (CD) cell culture media products, as well as comprehensive upstream solutions including customized media optimization and development.

In less than three years, Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has rapidly gained recognition and support from hundreds of biopharmaceutical companies in the industry, thanks to its high-performance, highly versatile culture media products and efficient technical service capabilities. Since last June, the company has successfully completed two rounds of significant financing, marking rapid development.

So, as a relatively young company built on the research, development, and production of cell culture media products while providing comprehensive upstream process solutions, why has MediumBank Biotechnology grown so rapidly?

Since entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Wang Yantao has maintained a clear vision. Two decades ago, as China’s biopharmaceutical sector began to experience rapid growth, Wang became highly optimistic about the future of the life sciences and chose biopharmaceuticals as his field of research.

After completing his studies, Wang Yantao, following careful consideration, quickly joined the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of a renowned domestic pharmaceutical group, where he engaged in the research and development of macromolecular biologics. Leveraging his profound theoretical foundation and robust experimental skills, he rapidly advanced from Senior R&D Specialist to R&D Team Leader, then to R&D Manager, and was ultimately appointed as R&D Director of the Institute. In this role, he led his team in spearheading the clinical trial applications for multiple projects involving monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins, and cytokine-based therapeutics.

For nearly a decade since late 2011, seeking greater professional growth, Wang Yantao successively joined Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA), GE Healthcare (now Cytiva, USA), and Sartorius Stedim Biotech (Germany), serving as a Platform Process Development Scientist. In this role, he was responsible for R&D and technical support for industrial clients across China, including cell line development, media optimization, and upstream process development, characterization, and validation.

In addition, he is responsible for systematic support tasks, including experimental protocol design, analytical method development, quality control, process changes, and regulatory affairs.Cell Line Development、Media Optimization and DevelopmentandProcess DevelopmentThe three core upstream modules have accumulated extensive experience. The profound understanding of overall upstream solutions, built up over many years, has also laid a solid foundation for the subsequent positioning and development of Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

In this process, Wang Yantao observed that China’s biopharmaceutical industry was on the cusp of explosive growth, with numerous biopharmaceutical companies continuously entering the market. However, many of these enterprises still faced significant bottlenecks and obstacles. “Prior to 2017, the reagents, consumables, and equipment used by domestic biopharmaceutical companies were basically all imported. After 2017, influenced by the international environment, Chinese biopharmaceutical companies began to gradually accept domestic brands. To address issues such as supply chain ‘chokepoints’ and cost reduction with efficiency improvement, the government has also been actively promoting localization,” recalled Wang Yantao.

Amidst the wave of domestication, Wang Yantao hopes to translate his and his team’s years of research findings, technologies, and experience into tangible value, providing comprehensive upstream process solutions for Chinese pharmaceutical companies and even foreign pharmaceutical enterprises.

In September 2019, MediumBank Biotechnology was established. The founding team initially consisted of only two members: Wang Yantao and the Vice President of R&D. Undeterred by severe constraints—including lack of funding, limited personnel, and no dedicated laboratory—they embarked on their entrepreneurial journey, relying solely on a laboratory space of just over 20 square meters.

For each cell platform, we designed over one hundred prototype media formulations, screened raw materials, developed processes for grinding and mixing powder media, optimized dissolution processes for liquid media, and analyzed culture supernatants. We evaluated titers and product quality attributes across multiple cell lines within each platform. Through countless days and nights marked by repeated failures and successes, three high-performance, highly versatile CHO cell culture media from MediumBank’s CHO cell platform—benchmarked against the top three international competitors—were successfully developed after three months. This was followed by the launch of two HEK293 cell culture media, and subsequently, SP2/0 cell culture media.

“Capital is required for both R&D and plant construction. In the early stages, without external financing, the startup capital was pooled from the founding team’s savings accumulated over many years. ‘It was truly difficult back then. With no financing and over a million yuan in debt incurred from purchasing equipment, the pressure was considerable. However, our team firmly believes that the localization of biopharmaceuticals and their upstream and downstream products is a major historical trend. As long as we commit to sustained, cumulative efforts, we are bound to achieve unexpected rewards,’ remarked Wang Yantao.”

In 2021, MFG1, built by MediumBank Biotechnology in accordance with GMP standards, was officially put into production.

Six months later, MediumBank completed its first round of financing, established a pilot-scale platform, and expanded its laboratory space by several hundred square meters. In October 2021, with the official commissioning of Phase I of MFG1, which added 10 million liters of GMP-compliant production capacity built to GMP standards, the company’s products and services rapidly gained recognition from over one hundred industrial clients. That year, the company achieved remarkable growth in performance, reaching tens of millions in sales revenue.

Maibang MFG1 Production Workshop

Over the past two years, Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology has grown from an initial two-person team to a workforce of nearly 100 employees. It has evolved from having no products to offering more than 100 culture media products across six major cell platforms; expanded from a 20-square-meter R&D laboratory to a GMP-compliant production base and warehouse spanning nearly 10,000 square meters; and progressed from having no customers to serving over 300 industrial clients. This journey has been anything but easy. Leveraging decades of accumulated experience and technological expertise within its team, MediumBank achieved rapid growth following its first round of financing. Not long ago, MediumBank Biotechnology announced the completion of its Series B financing, raising hundreds of millions of RMB.

Currently, MediumBank Biotechnology has served over 300 biopharmaceutical enterprises both domestically and internationally, with its products widely applied across various clinical stages. In 2021, the Phase I production capacity of MFG1, constructed in accordance with GMP standards, was officially put into operation, while the construction of the Phase II mass production base, MFG2, is steadily advancing. The Phase I warehouse area currently covers a total of 1,200 square meters, comprising one ambient temperature warehouse (10–30°C), three cold storage warehouses (2–8°C), and supporting office facilities. The entire warehouse area has passed temperature and humidity validation and is equipped with uninterruptible diesel generator sets to ensure the quality and safety of temperature-controlled products, fully complying with the requirements for GMP- and GSP-compliant pharmaceutical warehouses.

MediumBank Phase I Warehouse

In early 2022, MediumBank Biotechnology achieved ISO 13485 quality management system certification with zero defects. Subsequently, dozens of biopharmaceutical companies completed on-site audits of MediumBank Biotechnology’s production facilities. These milestone events collectively mark the company’s entry into a new phase of development.

Cell culture media, as a core and critical raw material in the upstream segment of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, have their performance, quality, and production process standards directly impacting the final translation of outcomes in the biopharmaceutical industry. However,High technical barriers and highly complex formulations characterize cell culture media development.A single product may contain hundreds of components, and any change in the proportion of each ingredient can affect the safety and efficacy of the drug.

Secondly, since culture media account for more than 30% of the production costs of biologics,Cost control of culture media directly impacts the profitability of biopharmaceutical companies.Furthermore, for leading enterprises in the research and development of innovative drugs, targetingNew Drug Development via Different Technological Pathways, moreRequires high-performance culture media products and optimized development technology support.These are the significant challenges facing biopharmaceutical companies today. MediumBank’s mission is to help pharmaceutical companies address these core issues.

“Our core competitiveness at MediumBank lies not in our high-performance, highly versatile culture media products, which are already widely used by hundreds of biopharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally, but rather in our platform capability to rapidly and efficiently provide high-performance, highly versatile, and specialized culture media along with process development services. This capability is designed to meet the surging demands of biopharmaceutical enterprises for new projects, new targets, new clones, and novel processes. Our goal is clear: to help biopharmaceutical companies significantly reduce the cost of biologics, substantially improve production efficiency, and completely resolve the ‘chokehold’ issue of dependence on imported raw materials.”

Wang Yantao stated earnestly, “MediumBank is not merely a company that relies on the sale of cell culture media; relying solely on products cannot help biopharmaceutical companies address their fundamental challenges.”

Daily R&D Laboratory Work of Wang Yantao

With over a decade of deep industry expertise, the founder and core team of MediumBank Biotechnology have established a scientific, platform-based Media Optimization and Development (MOD) technology. Leveraging AI-driven big data and Quality by Design (QbD) principles, this technology enables rapid and efficient media optimization, accelerating biopharmaceutical projects toward commercialization. This constitutes the core value that MediumBank delivers to its customers.

“Adopting an end-in-mind approach, starting from the safety and efficacy of the final drug product, and adjusting key process parameters or critical material attributes—such as basal and feed medium formulation components, feeding strategies, and temperature shift strategies—in accordance with cell line characteristics, thereby forming a personalized, comprehensive solution for medium optimization and development, with a development cycle”A new customized formulation can be developed in as little as 2–3 months, accelerating project progression to clinical trials and even market launch..” Wang Yantao introduced.

This passage inadvertently reveals the “core secret” behind Shanghai MediumBank’s rapid acquisition of a large customer base in a short period.

Currently, Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has completed the establishment of its product and service system, including first,High-Performance, Highly Versatile Standardized CD Cell Culture Media Products, covering six major animal cell platforms: CHO cells, hybridoma/myeloma cells, HEK293 cells, insect cells, viral vaccine cells, and T cells/stem cells; secondly, MOD (Medium Optimization & Development)Customized Culture Media Optimization and Innovative Service Platform Development; Third,Large-Scale Dry Powder OEM Contract Manufacturing Solutions; Fourth,Rapid Supply Chain Solutions for Large-Scale Liquid Culture Media。

These products have been validated by over 300 biopharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally, demonstrating high performance and broad compatibility. The performance of most products and their optimized development services has surpassed that of leading international cell culture media manufacturers. Currently, a wide range of MediumBank Biotechnology’s products are being used in clinical and commercial production across various fields, including monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins, animal or human vaccines, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), regenerative medicine, and cultured meat.

The persistent outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years have triggered a crisis in the global biopharmaceutical supply chain. Currently, the top three global suppliers of cell culture media hold over 80% of the market share among Chinese biopharmaceutical companies. In the current complex international landscape, China’s biopharmaceutical industry faces the imminent risk of being “strangled” by external constraints. It is imperative to accelerate the localization of upstream biopharmaceutical materials and equipment, as this is a critical issue directly impacting public health and safety.

However, the development of culture media is complex and challenging. High-performance chemically defined (CD) culture media are determined by superior formulations, high-quality raw materials, and robust manufacturing processes. Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has achieved three major breakthroughs in the research and development of domestic alternatives:

First, a next-generation AI-driven big data platform for culture medium optimization and development was established, with critical quality attributes as the primary target.Currently, most culture media products on the market are serum-free formulations containing hydrolysates. These products often exhibit poor solubility and undefined compositions, which can lead to significant batch-to-batch variability, thereby compromising the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products. The advantage of chemically defined (CD) culture media lies in their well-defined components and minimal batch-to-batch variation, ensuring consistent safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products. This represents the future direction for the development of culture media.

MediumBank’s innovative strategy for media optimization and development targets Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs). By leveraging AI-driven big data analysis to evaluate multiple interacting variables, the company identifies Critical Material Attributes (CMAs) and Critical Process Parameters (CPPs), thereby enabling breakthrough, high-efficiency determination of high-performance chemically defined (CD) media formulations. Over the past three years, MediumBank has established a three-story R&D and Analytics Center at its Shanghai MFG1 facility. It has developed a robust, platform-based methodology for media optimization and development, encompassing raw material qualification, powder/liquid media process development, high-throughput cell culture testing, supernatant analysis, product quality analysis, and AI-driven big data analytics. To date, MediumBank has utilized this media optimization platform to assist over 40 clients domestically and internationally in completing media optimization and development projects, achieving significant improvements in both yield and product quality.

Secondly, the localization of culture media requires strict control over the quality and batch-to-batch consistency of raw materials.“Currently, our raw material library contains several hundred types of raw materials, which serve as the foundation for various culture media. Once the formula design is finalized, we prioritize selecting the most mature, stable, and repeatedly validated raw materials available on our platform. We maintain stringent quality control processes for raw materials, rigorously managing every stage—from supplier selection and auditing, pre-warehousing testing and release, validation and monitoring of storage conditions, to production requisition—to ensure product quality and batch-to-batch consistency,” said Wang Yantao.

“Particularly in the areas of raw material testing and impurity analysis and identification, MediumBank has established a comprehensive platform-based analytical and control methodology, ensuring the stability of different industrial production batches from the very source of culture media production,” added Wang Yantao.

Third is the breakthrough in manufacturing processes.Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. utilizes the world’s most advanced grinding equipment from Hosokawa, Germany. Our powder culture media process development team specializes in dry powder milling and liquid formulation processes, possessing extensive expertise in the production of powdered culture media. In particular, we have achieved significant breakthroughs in process development for trace elements and poorly soluble substances, laying a solid foundation for large-scale, high-batch-stability production of chemically defined (CD) culture media.

In addition to breakthroughs in the key areas mentioned above, international standards for culture media production management and quality systems are also critical. Shanghai MediumBank Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has established a comprehensive production process system for its Phase I GMP-compliant manufacturing capacity, implementing scientific lean management and risk-based quality system management to enhance batch-to-batch product consistency.

Twenty years ago, Wang Yantao foresaw the explosive growth trend of China’s biopharmaceutical industry. He also gained experience at one of the top three global companies, witnessing the sector’s evolution from its nascent stages to a period of robust momentum. “From my initial foray into biopharmaceutical R&D to my deep immersion in the industry, I have always believed in the vast opportunities and potential within biomedicine. I am grateful to this era for affording us such possibilities.”

In Wang Yantao’s view, life science and technology represent a crucial direction for enhancing human productivity. Humanity must not only venture into the vastness of space but also break through the constraints of natural resources, harness energy to benefit the Earth, and transform the world. It is reported that MediumBank is actively positioning itself and participating in the field of cultured meat, an area at the forefront of international advanced technology.

“MediumBank Biotechnology’s goal is not to be an outstanding follower, but to be an innovation leader, becoming a China-based, globally leading provider of integrated upstream process solutions. Through relentless efforts, we empower the biopharmaceutical industry and ultimately benefit human health!” said Wang Yantao.