Clinical trial boom boosts Cryoport revenues 59% in Q2 2018
The temperature-controlled logistics company recently announced financial results for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2018.
For the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2018, revenue increased 59% to $4.6m and 54% to $8.7m, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Biopharma revenue specifically increased by 73% during the second quarter (Q2) of 2018.
Additionally, the company added 22 new biopharma clinical trials.
Cryoport is now supporting a record net total of 258 clinical trials compared to 172 as of the three months ended June 30, 2017. The number of trials in Phase III increased from 17 in Q2 2017 to 34 during the Q2 2018.
“The emergence of precision and regenerative medicine as a viable course of therapy has driven a significant increase in the number of clinical trials in the space,” Mark Sawicki, chief commercial officer of Cryoport told us.
According to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, in the first quarter of 2018, 959 clinical trials were ongoing. More than 53% in oncology and nearly 10% in cardiovascular disorders.
Globally, companies active in gene and cellular therapies and other regenerative medicines raised more than $3.8bn in Q1 2018, marking a 135% increase from the same period last year.
As Sawicki noted, “almost all of these regenerative medicine programs, which are cell-based treatments, require Cryoport’s cryogenic services.”
“The regenerative medicine space is growing because diseases that were incurable now have a viable cell-based treatment approach and these new cell-based treatments require cryogenic shipping which is where Cryoport comes in,” he added.
Sawicki said he expects this space will continue to grow and outpace the pharmaceutical industry growth rate: “First, because these therapies are addressing disease states that are unmet by other types of therapies; so most of these diseases have not had a viable course of therapy until now,” he said.
“Second, these are personalized medicines which are resistant to generic competition where the time from study to commercial launch is far faster than traditional clinical studies,” Sawicki added. “Some of these are happening in four years.”
Sawicki also noted that regenerative medicines require enhanced compliance, for which he said there is a great need. Cryoport has helped develop and implement safer, more controlled systems, currently being adopted as standard practice in the industry, he said.
“The latest of these is our emerging chain of compliance process requirements for regenerative medicine distribution, which are rapidly becoming a standard for ensuring product integrity,” he explained.
As Sawicki explained, chain of compliance provides traceability of the equipment, processes, and logistics handling used in managing the environmental control of a therapy in transit.
Cryoport also recently added two new logistics centers in New Jersey and the Netherlands.
Additionally, earlier this year, the company partnered with World Courier to integrate its full suite of temperature-controlled solutions into World Courier's global network.
