The contract manufacturing organisation (CMO), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, has had a successful first half to fiscal 2010, increasing year-on-year revenues by 230 per cent to $7.38m (€5m).
Avid also has deals with its parent company and when these are included the CMO generated $16.6m over the past six months. To help maintain this growth Chris Eso, vice president of business operations at Avid, diversify and position the CMO for long term success.
He said that one aspect of this plan is already underway. In September Avid entered into a global strategic alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim becoming the German company’s West Coast, US partner.
Eso views joining Boehringer’s network of strategic biologic manufactures as a “great opportunity”, adding that through it Avid will gain access to a new proprietary expression system.
By entering into strategic alliances Avid can expand its business offering, shorten development times and increase production capabilities. Consequently it is in discussions about a number of other alliances and is hoping to boost its presence in Asia-Pacific through a partnership.
Biosimilars are the third plank of Eso’s diversification plans. He believes they represent “an unprecedented opportunity for a US based company with available capacity, such as Avid”.
The CMO “has the biologic manufacturing capabilities, infrastructure, personnel and the regulator’s track record of producing commercial grade biologic product”, according to Eso and consequently is planning to enter the market.
Avid is looking to manufacture biosimilars for clients but also launch its own products. Eso explained that Avid is “identifying those biologics that match our current expertise capabilities” and is particularly interested in niche products which require smaller sales teams.
The company is also planning to expand its analytical service offering and is developing more sophisticated tests. These will be used by clients but will also support the in-house push into biosimilars and Peregrine’s operations.