Q&A
Big vs small: How CMO Legacy Pharma found the middle ground
According to CEO Mike Danzi, Legacy ‘sits in the middle’ between being a large, quality contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) and a small, ‘agile’, customer service-focused firm.
“Our lines can be quickly configured, time to market is a particular strength, and we have excellent staff,” he told us.
The Swiss company has been a contract manufacturer of sterile/aseptic and non-sterile products in liquid and powder form since 1947, and today specialises in parenteral and semisolid drugs.
In addition, Legacy sources active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and delivers to clients’ distribution centres around the world, “which is not overly common, but is becoming increasingly required”, said Danzi.
in-PharmaTechnologist (IPT) asked Mike Danzi (MD) about Legacy’s growth and why, when it comes to the CMO landscape, size does matter.
IPT: Where does Legacy Pharma fit in the contract manufacturing sector?
MD: We’ve deliberately positioned ourselves in the mid-sized range – able to produce parenteral and semisolid drugs for both large and specialist pharmaceutical companies operating across a wide range of global markets. Pharma companies are increasingly seeing the need to concentrate on their core competences, such as research & development and marketing.
Outsourcing is also gaining importance for growth-oriented generics manufacturers.
IPT: Why the decision to jump into biologics at such an early stage?
MD: The potential of biologic drugs to transform healthcare was starting to become apparent and I could see that there would be a need for a new generation of flexible and adaptable CMOs able to produce them. Rather than taking what I call a ‘field of dreams’ approach and building new facilities in anticipation of securing clients, I saw evolving from an existing high quality operation as a far better option.
IPT: And what does the future have in store for Legacy?
MD: We are closely monitoring industry developments in biologics and feel our experience is well suited to working with the increasing number of new high value APIs gaining approval. We already have the necessary space in our facility to expand and incorporate some of the newer technologies into our service offering, such as prefilled syringe filling, as well as secondary packaging options such as auto-injectors assembly.
We will also be making the investments required to stay ahead of the pack in data management, particularly with the new serialisation requirements coming in.
Mike Danzi has been chairman of Legacy Pharmaceuticals since 2008. He also serves as the firm’s CEO. Danzi holds a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
