Many of PCI’s newest clients, which include small- and medium-sized biotech companies, are situated near the company’s Newburyport and Devens, Massachusetts, facilities, which eases the clients’ abilities to check the status of their projects.
Ed Price, President of PCI Synthesis, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that revenue-wise, the company has grown over 35% in the latest fiscal year, and 80% of that growth is coming from word-of-mouth recommendations.
PCI, which was founded in 1998, shifted its focus in 2010 to begin developing and manufacturing a line of commercial products on an ongoing basis. This year the company expects the commercialization of two products, which will further add to that pipeline of work. And to meet the demand in new customers and products, the company now includes more than 110 employees, an increase of 22% over last year.
Price explained to us that the company is finally maturing in terms of its pipeline of work, which now includes 17 APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients). He also noted that PCI has an 11 acre site so that if the workload increases more, they can expand capacity.
In terms of its peers, Price said his company on drug substance projects mostly competes with smaller European, Chinese and Indian CMOs. He also expressed skepticism about some of the work of the larger, more traditional CMOs, noting they can often be late on deadlines, and can “blow budgets.”
“When it comes to GMP I can tell you we typically are not competing with India and China,” he added, noting that the company wins about half of the proposals that it applies for. PCI is also selective about who it works with, as Price noted that some of the virtual start-up companies with limited infrastructure and experience “quite frankly don’t get it…these types of projects become a big headache.
“We don’t want to cut corners, and we strictly adhere to ICH guidelines,” he added.
“Emerging pharma customers prefer the ease and practicality of working locally with partners such as PCI,” Price said. “There is greater collaboration, a faster buildup of trust and overall better communication when you work with a local partner as compared to a business located somewhere overseas or in a different time zone.”