Catalent looking to parenteral dosage form capability for future expansion

28-Aug-2017 - Last updated on 29-Aug-2017 at 13:08 GMT

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Catalent says it will focus its M&A strategy to fill the injectables capability gap in its CDMO offering.

This week contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) Catalent reported a record fourth quarter and fiscal year, with double-digit growth across its Softgel Technologies, Drug Delivery Solutions (DDS), and Clinical Supply Services divisions compared to the same periods 2016.

Total revenue for the three months ending June 30 2016 stood at $620m (€515m), up 16% year-on-year, while net income was up 6% to $62m.

The strength in Softgel was primarily driven by the acquisition of OTC capsule maker Accucaps last November, the firm said, while DDS’s $270m (16% growth) was attributed to both the acquisition of bioavailability firm Phamatek last September and recent investments in its biologics capabilities.

And going forward, CFO Matthew Walsh said: “There are numerous opportunities for us to grow inorganically and I said we will continue to be quite thorough and aggressive in trying to identify acquisition targets that can enhance our rate of organic growth.”

Specifically, Walsh told investors Catalent’s injectables business is “relatively small” and the lack of vial capabilities is holding the firm back.

“The range of advanced delivery technology platforms that we have can certainly accommodate biologic products, but many, many biologics are delivered in prefilled syringe or vials and Catalent is not a significant player in either of those delivery forms today,” he said.

“As we think about organic growth and in-organic growth we certainly know where we need to expand and we are focusing on those areas.”

Flexibility

Walsh did not go into details of specific acquisition targets but said flexibility is key to Catalent’s M&A strategy.

“You have to be flexible in this market if you're going to grow through acquisition. I think we have recognized that and we would see ourselves as being quite flexible in terms of completing the kinds of acquisitions that would create real value.”

Just last week, rival CDMO Lonza announced it was expanding its parenteral dosage form service offering through an expansion at its site in Basel, Switzerland.