Evonik ups HPAPI capability in Germany and US as oncology market grows
“We upgraded our facilities and equipment to be able to provide fomulation services of HPAPIs,” Evonik spokesperson Dr. Jürgen Krauter told in-Pharmatechnologist.com
HPAPIs are used mostly in modern oncology drugs,a market that stood at $60bn (€45bn) in 2010 and is – according to a KPMG report – expected to grow to around $78bn by 2015. “This makes the oncology drug market highly attractive for us,” Krauter said.
Both Evonik’s Darmstadt, Germany, and Birmingham, US facility have seen upgrades in order to handle a range of hormones, peptides and cytostatic agents in both the laboratory and GMP areas. However, Krauter was unable to disclose financial details regarding the expansion.
A number of manufacturers have invested in HPAPIs of late to fulfil increasing demand - including Novasep, Aesica and Powder Systems Limited specifically – though Evonik says there is still a limited number of firms working with these ingredients.
Krauter could not comment on the fim’s competitors but did say Evonik is in a unique position, now offering “the whole value chain from drug substance custom manufacturing, over formulation development and clinical supply down to drug product custom manufacturing” for HPAPIs from its facilities.
ADCs
A number of firms have been investing in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) – Roche, Novartis and AstraZeneca to name some recent Big Pharma entrants - and in order to service this growing segment there has been a spurt of activity on the contract manufacturing side with Lonza, Baxter and Piramel examples.
It is the case too for Evonik, with these investments “also related to ADCs and are driven by increased interest in antibody-drug conjugates,” an area Evonik is also active in, Krauter told us.
A recent report on contract manufacturing by Frost & Sullivan cited cytotoxics “the most significant sources of revenue” for the industry within the next five years.
