Paragon CEO Marco Chacon told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that the funding will boost Paragon’s growth and help the company to add about 10 more employees this quarter to make a total of about 130 employees.
The funding may also help the company “expand a little on the process development side but not on the GMP side,” Chacon told us.
“In terms of capacity, we’re in pretty good shape,” he added, noting that sales and marketing improvements are “key to our growth.” He also noted that Paragon’s investments in infrastructure, including GMP suites, over the last three years have paid off with ongoing projects though there’s still available capacity to fill. “We won’t need to invest in infrastructure at this point,” he said.
In terms of the market expectations, Chacon said that biologics manufacturing is growing at double digits and fueling the need for contract and federal work. “We need to tool up and be ready for the challenge,” Chacon said.
He also noted that the company is “bullish and very optimistic” in regards to biosimilar development and manufacturing. And as far as the CMO business shifting back to the West, Chacon said, “Years ago I was concerned about the shift from the West to the East, but when we thought more and more about it and seeing the difficulties of what pharma companies have encountered in those markets, it became a non-issue.”
This latest round of funding comes from Radnor, Pennsylvania-based NewSpring Capital, and Baltimore-based Camden Partners. 1st BridgeHouse Securities and Evergreen Advisors, acted as advisors to Paragon Bioservices.
"This is an inflection point for the company and we are well-positioned for that next stage of accelerated growth,” Chacon said. “With 120 highly skilled and dedicated employees—including a multidisciplinary team of scientists—we will leverage our extensive expertise in applied research and process engineering, leading the way in the most challenging and promising areas of pre-clinical and Phase I and II drug discovery and development."
New COO
Paragon also announced this week that it is adding Peter Buzy as Chief Operating Officer. Buzy formerly worked as EVP and CFO for 13 years for Martek Biosciences, which was acquired by Royal DSM for $1.1bn.
"I am very excited about the business prospect for Paragon," said Buzy. "The company has an excellent scientific team and a world-class client base... Market factors, including the consolidation of the pharmaceutical industry and the growth of virtual biotechnology companies, positions Paragon extremely well for the future."