Pamplona CMO bullish about biopharma prospects after fundraising

21-Jul-2014 - Last updated on 22-Jul-2014 at 13:30 GMT

Not the start of 3P's recruitment drive: The annual running of the bulls in the CMO's hometown of Pamplona is a huge draw

3P Biopharmaceuticals has raised funds and announced plans to invest in its manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of international clients.

The Pamplona-based specialist contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) has raised €6m ($8m) in an agreement with fellow Spanish firm Infarco that establishes the privately-owned drugmaker as majority shareholder.

A spokeswoman for 3P told BioPharma-Reporter.com that: “Our plan is to strengthen our staff,” explaining that the firm plans to increase its headcount from 90 employees to 130 in the next three years.

The biopharmaceuticals CMO will also use the new funding to expand its manufacturing capabilities according to the spokeswoman.

“We also plan to adapt our facilities, technologies and equipment to meet the demands of international clients,” she said, citing customers in the US, Mexico, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, UK, Belgium, Norway and Australia as examples.

The overall aim of the expansion is to allow 3P to capture a greater share of its core market – which covers process development, good manufacturing practices (GMP) production of biopharmaceuticals and cell therapy products.

“We offer an integral service for the process development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products from microbial fermentation and Mammalian cell culture.

She added that: “We are equipped to handle New Biological Entities, fusion proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies as well as Biosimilars.”

Biopharma business

From a business perspective, adding Infarco as an investor will build 3P's market presence according to company general manager, Damaso Molero.

“Having the support of a partner as solid as Infarco is strengthens our market position and our management model, which is based on trust and long-term relationships with our customers."

Molero added that: “It [the Infarco investment] will allow us to tailor our services to our customers, who have relied on the company since its inception."