What OPM Biosciences does

OPM Biosciences is a privately held life sciences company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Shanghai, China, with U.S. operations in Pleasanton, California. The company develops and manufactures chemically defined cell culture media and reagents used in the production of biologics, with primary product lines centered on CHO and HEK293 cell culture media (under brand families OpmCHO and OpmHEK293) and the CarpTrans transfection reagent, which is backed by an FDA Drug Master File. OPM reports that its products are used in the development of over 390 molecule candidates and serve more than 2,000 customers globally, including over 1,000 biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic research organizations, with claimed performance of 96% average titer improvement and 35%+ cost savings versus prior processes.

The company's media portfolio is built around chemically defined formulations engineered for specific cell lines, manufactured at two Shanghai facilities — Lingang (~6,000 m²) and Ziping (~2,000 m²) — both operating under ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485 quality certifications. Manufacturing capacity is extended through affiliated service businesses: contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services are delivered through a sister company called Sureness with 5,400L of capacity, while preclinical CRO services are channeled through PharmaLegacy. In January 2026, PharmaLegacy was integrated into OPM to create a media-plus-CRDMO platform spanning drug discovery through commercial manufacturing.

OPM's business model combines product sales of cell culture media and reagents with service revenue from CDMO contracts routed through Sureness and preclinical work through PharmaLegacy. Pricing signals include a free sample program targeting evaluation by prospective biopharma customers, indicating a land-and-expand commercialization approach aimed at the long tail of biologic developers. Go-to-market is executed through direct sales in the United States via its Pleasanton office and through the parent organization's reach across Asian and European biopharma customers, with no third-party distribution dependence.

Name

OPM Biosciences

Legal name

OPM Biosciences Inc.

Website

https://opmbio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

OPM Biosciences is a Shanghai-based, privately held developer and manufacturer of chemically defined cell culture media (CHO and HEK293 series) and transfection reagents, serving over 2,000 biotech, pharmaceutical, and research customers globally with integrated CDMO services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bioprocessing Cell Culture Media & CDMO Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

GMP Scale-Up, Tech Transfer & Process Validation (PPQ) (HLAGAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)

Keywords

• Cell culture media
• Biologics CDMO services
• Mammalian cell culture
• GMP biomanufacturing
• Monoclonal antibody production

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cell Culture Media Products: Sale of catalog cell culture media products including basal media, feeds, and supplements for CHO and HEK293 cell lines. Products are available in dry powder and liquid formats with GMP-grade and research-grade options.
2. CDMO Services: Comprehensive contract development and manufacturing services including antibody discovery, stable cell line development, cell banking, upstream/downstream process development, formulation development, manufacturing, and QC/product characterization.
3. Custom Media Development Services: Tailored cell culture media development services with high-throughput screening platform, delivering results within 3-6 months. Includes tech transfer to custom cGMP manufacturing.
4. CRO Services (via PharmaLegacy): Preclinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, DMPK, and GLP toxicology services through sister company PharmaLegacy.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

OPM Biosciences develops and manufactures chemically defined, animal-origin-free cell culture media, feeds, and supplements for CHO and HEK293 mammalian cell lines used in biologics development and manufacturing. The company also provides integrated CRDMO services spanning antibody discovery, stable cell line development, upstream/downstream process development, formulation, GMP manufacturing, and QC/product characterization, complemented by preclinical CRO services through sister company PharmaLegacy.

Product overview

OPM Biosciences offers an integrated platform combining high-performance cell culture media products with comprehensive CRDMO (Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization) services. The product portfolio consists of two main cell culture media lines: OPM-CHO products (AltairCHO, SagiCHO, StarCHO, StarCHO Plus, HelixCHO, VegaCHO basal media, paired with DenebCHO, SagiCHO, StarCHO Feed Plus, HelixCHO, VectorCHO feeds and CDFS36/CDFS12 supplements) for Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, and OPM-293 products (OPM-293 CD05, 293F Hi-Exp basal media; OPM-293 ProFeed, 293F Hi-Exp feeds) plus CarpTrans transfection reagent for HEK293 cells. These chemically defined, animal-origin-free media and feeds deliver an average 96% titer improvement. The CRDMO services span the entire biologics development lifecycle through sister company Sureness, including antibody discovery, stable cell line development, cell banking, upstream and downstream process development, formulation development, GMP manufacturing (up to 2000L), and QC/product characterization. An additional CRO service layer through PharmaLegacy (joined January 2026) provides preclinical pharmacology, DMPK, and GLP toxicology, creating a unified Media + CRDMO ecosystem for global biopharma innovation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AltairCHO Medium Chemically defined, animal-origin-free basal medium designed for high-titer monoclonal antibody production in CHO-K1, CHOK1SV GS-KO, CHO-S, and CHO-DXB11 cell lines, sold to biopharmaceutical manufacturers.
• SagiCHO Medium
• StarCHO Medium
• StarCHO Plus Medium
• HelixCHO Medium
• VegaCHO Medium
• DenebCHO Feed
• SagiCHO Feed
• StarCHO Feed Plus
• HelixCHO Feed
• VectorCHO Feed
• CDFS36 Feed Supplement
• CDFS12 Feed Supplement
• OPM-293 CD05 Medium
• 293F Hi-Exp Medium
• OPM-293 ProFeed
• 293F Hi-Exp Feed
• CarpTrans Transfection Reagent
• CDMO Services for Biologics
• Custom Media Development

Quantifiable outcome

• 96% average titer improvement using OPM media and feeds
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PharmaLegacycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026PharmaLegacy, a leading CRO specializing in preclinical pharmacology and efficacy evaluation, joined OPM in January 2026. Founded in 2008, PharmaLegacy has supported 700+ new drug filing projects with expertise in in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, DMPK, GLP toxicology, and Class III medical device evaluation. The partnership creates a unified 'Media + CRDMO' platform integrating best-in-class products and services spanning research, development, manufacturing, and global commercialization.
• SurenesscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister company providing integrated CDMO services supporting biologics programs from early development through commercial production. Through Sureness, OPM offers end-to-end biologics CRDMO services.
• BIOminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIndustry organization partnership for connecting with researchers and biotechnology industry stakeholders.
• Biocom CaliforniaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCalifornia-based life sciences industry organization partnership.
• California Life SciencesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCalifornia-based life sciences industry association partnership.
• MassBiominorGTM or Marketing PartnerMassachusetts biotechnology industry organization partnership for connecting with researchers in the biotech hub.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Samsung Biologics: Samsung Biologics is a direct peer offering large-scale mammalian-cell CDMO services from cell line development through commercial manufacturing, serving the same global biopharma customer base as OPM's CDMO business and competing for similar late-stage and commercial contracts.
• Sartorius AG: Sartorius is a direct peer in cell culture media and bioprocess solutions, providing upstream media, feeds, and bioreactor-integrated workflows for biologics developers — directly competing with OPM's CHO and HEK293 media portfolios and process-development services.
• FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific: FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific is a direct cell culture media competitor specializing in chemically defined media for CHO, HEK293, and other mammalian cell lines used in vaccine and therapeutic protein manufacturing — overlapping directly with OPM's core product lines.
• Lonza Group: Lonza is the closest direct peer: a global leader in both mammalian cell culture media products (including the proprietary media franchise acquired through multiple transactions) and full-spectrum biologics CDMO services from cell line development through commercial manufacturing — the exact "Media + CDMO" model OPM is building toward.
• AGC Biologics: AGC Biologics is a direct peer providing mammalian-cell CDMO services spanning cell line development, process development, and GMP manufacturing for antibodies and recombinant proteins — competing with OPM's CDMO operations for similar mid-sized biotech customers.
• WuXi Biologics: WuXi Biologics is a global biologics CDMO peer offering end-to-end discovery, development, and GMP manufacturing services — directly comparable to OPM's CDMO/Sureness operations and similarly rooted in China with Western biopharma customers.
• Cytiva (Danaher): Cytiva (formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences) is a direct competitor in cell culture media, feeds, supplements, and bioprocessing workflows for CHO-based biologics manufacturing, offering overlapping catalog products and process-development services targeted at the same biopharma customers as OPM.

Broad incumbents

• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Gibco): Through the Gibco brand, Thermo Fisher is the broad incumbent in cell culture media — offering the widest catalog of CHO, HEK293, and other mammalian media plus bioproduction services — and serves as the default media supplier against which OPM benchmarks performance and pricing.
• Merck KGaA / MilliporeSigma: MilliporeSigma is a broad incumbent offering cell culture media, bioprocessing single-use systems, and BioReliance contract testing/development services — overlapping with OPM across both media catalog sales and CRDMO-style offerings.

Emerging players

• ChemPartner: ChemPartner is a relevant comparator as a China-anchored CRO/CDMO providing biologics discovery, CMC, and cell-line services — and notably the prior employer of OPM's founder/CEO Dr. Xiao — making it a closely related emerging peer for talent, customer overlap, and capability benchmarking.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/opm-bio

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OPM Biosciences