Tokyo-based general contractor Chiyoda, which recently won a $42 million contract to build a production plant for injectable cancer drugs, plans to compete for more such business as its energy-related projects start to slow due to the low price of oil.
Pharmaceutical-related construction currently accounts for 5% or ¥30 billion ($255 million) of the company's business, according to a report by Nikkei news, and the company plans to boost that by 70% to ¥50 billion ($425 million) by fiscal 2018, the report said. Chiyoda also plans to hire more engineers for pharma-related construction and will have about 250 detailed to the sector, again by fiscal 2018.
In addition to the $42 million injectable plant planned for Cmic Holdings in Tochigi prefecture, which is slated to begin operations by 2018, the company won a ¥5 billion contract to build an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) plant. Details were not disclosed.
Chiyoda said it hopes its "strength in detailed project management" will help it win more pharma-related business because those skills apply well to the complex nature of drug production plants.
Nikkei reported that the market for pharma-related construction in Japan is expected to rise to more than ¥500 billion ($4.2 billion) for 2015 and will include generic drug production as well as iPS facilities.
- here's the report from Nikkei