Biologics and sterile production boost CMOs
The report by Kalorama Information, entitled "Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Opportunities Post-Launch", predicts that protein and peptide drugs will be one of the main areas of growth for contract manufacturing organisations (CMO) in coming years.
Further opportunities are present in secondary manufacturing, which covers the production of antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents that need to be administered as sterile injectable drugs.
Most companies lack the capacity to perform these opportunities in-house, which creates an opportunity for CMOs. The lack of capacity is especially true of small companies, which the report believes CMOs should increasingly target.
Working with smaller companies may require a different business model as their internal capacity, and therefore outsourcing needs, differs from larger pharmas.
The report believes that by taking advantages of the opportunities these niches present the contract manufacturing sector, which was valued at $30bn in 2008, can continue to grow.
Gilead targets Indian CMO partnerships; report
Gregg Alton, Gilead's senior vice president, told the Wall Street Journal that the company is looking for manufacturing and research partners in India.
No names were mentioned by Alton but Gilead already has manufacturing relationships with 10 Indian companies that produce the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine).
These include Piramal Healthcare, which is seeking regulatory approval to market Viread in India. Gaining regulatory approval may form one step in Gilead’s attempts to make the antiretroviral available at a “very low cost” in India.
