Western CMOs should strategise to survive
becoming more attractive to drug companies, Western CMOs are having
to develop new business strategies in order to compete.
In-PharmaTechnologist.com spoke with Nick Hyde, global business director at a leading Western contract manufacturer, >Dowpharma, to hear how his company has been rising to the challenge.
"We view China more as an opportunity than a threat and we have already expanded our business into China as part of a strategy to extend our global reach and retain our dominant market position," said Hyde.
The move has so far been proving successful, as China has become the third largest market for Dowpharma and is also the fastest growing.
"We are now increasing our activities in India and looking at joint ventures in other emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil," he said.
Dowpharma is also staying ahead of the game by embracing new and differentiated technologies, and by offering a breadth of services that smaller players cannot match, according to Hyde. They have two main areas of focus, small molecules and biopharmaceuticals.
The company has invested strongly in technically advanced intermediates based on chiral technology, is an established player in biologics production and also has a portfolio of development and product lifecycle offerings, including its BioAqueous solubilisation service.
"This helps Dowpharma to distinguish themselves from Indian and Chinese CMOs who are making undifferentiated custom-made intermediates and are putting pressure on other Western CMOs that are trying to compete head-to-head with the same products," said Hyde.
The company has seen recent success with novel technologies such as its new strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens - called Pfenex - that drives up the yields in biotherapeutics production compared to existing systems such as Escherichia coli.
This technology is providing Dowpharma with a competitive advantage in the contract biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector, as it can produce more protein per reactor and should reduce costs.
As a result, Dowpharma entered collaboration with Dor BioPharma in July to produce BT-VACC, a vaccine against botulinum toxin, as part of the US government's "Project BioShield."
Since 9/11, the US Department of Homeland Security has been looking at a range of threats from biological agents. "Project BioShield" is an initiative to develop and make available modern, effective drugs and vaccines to protect against attack by biological and chemical weapons or other dangerous pathogens.
Botulinum toxin, considered the most poisonous natural substance known to mankind, is classified as a Category A biothreat by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and currently there is no FDA approved vaccine available.
Dor BioPharma's BT-VACC is in preclinical development, where it has demonstrated protection or prolonged survival in animals against 30,000 times the lethal dose of botulinum toxin serotype A.
"We are using our Pfenex technology to significantly improve the productivity of manufacturing this vaccine on a mass-scale in a cost-effective manner," said Hyde.
