The provision, named Certified Consulting will see a team of 12 industry veterans providing their CMC (chemistry, manufacturing and controls) know-how for mid to late stage developers.
The CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation) says it will “draw the road map” for companies making decisions to drive molecules from discovery to development and scale-up.
Speaking to Outsourcing-Pharma at Interphex, Geoff Glass, executive VP of global sales and marketing said: “CMC – part of turning that molecule into something you and I can absorb as humans – is becoming more and more challenging.
“The industry has churned out more of these BCS (biopharmaceutical classification system) class II and IV compounds recently, and those products by their very nature require more complex techniques.”
He said Patheon spoke to the bods in charge at said companies, where there was a synonymous cry for guidance to prevent “making the mistakes a small company without the right knowledge set might make.”
Turn and face the change
The news comes in the midst of a structural overhaul for the firm, which will see many of its contract manufacturing operations in Swindon, UK, axed.
And it seems the Certified Consulting program falls in line with its efforts to “refocus” its business efforts on core operational programs.
In a statement the firm said that through the cuts, it would: “focus capital investments on its core business, and accelerate operational excellence programs to increase efficiency, meet customer needs, and improve its cost structure.”
Under the plans, 91 workers within the plant – which produces cephalosporin antibiotics and other sterile products – stand to loose their jobs by the end of the year, with a total of 400 employees hanging in the balance over the next three years.
Patheon expects to take a hit of around $55 to $65 million in payouts and redundancy packages.
The firm declined to comment when in-PharmaTechnologist asked if we should expect more service offerings similar to the Certified Consulting program, and more closures of manufacturing facilities.