Second study finds biopharma in overcapacity

Related tags Biotechnology

A second market research report has found evidence that production
capacity in the market for contract manufacturing of
biopharmaceuticals is now in excess, in contrast to the hitherto
prevailing wisdom that the sector has been suffering from
undercapacity.

The report, just published by HighTech Business Decisions, suggests that in 2004 and 2005, the industry has a slight excess of capacity as new capacity continues to come on-line in and process improvements are being made. This ties in with recently-published research​ from Frost & Sullivan which predicted that biomanufacturing will be in overcapacity through to 2011.

"The biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing industry is undergoing significant changes as it matures to a stable and reliable resource for the manufacture of biologics,​ according to HighTech

In addition to new expression technologies, cell line development, and biomanufacturing platforms offered for mammalian cell culture and microbial fermentation, some contractors are gearing up to produce novel product types that require specific biomanufacturing expertise such as antibody fragments, fusion proteins, antibody drug conjugates, gene therapy, and novel proteins.

Sandra Fox, president of HighTech, said: "We spoke with 51 directors of biomanufacturing at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide, and 33 biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers. The biopharmaceutical CMOs are forging stronger partnerships with some of their clients to solve capacity issues going forward. In addition, several CMOs are working to increase manufacturing efficiencies by increasing yields, improving process development, optimising media, using more efficient equipment, using better staffing and scheduling tools, streamlining analytics and testing, and solving some of the downstream bottlenecks."

The market for biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing reached $1.7bn in 2004, with healthy growth forecast for 2006. Based on revenues, the top biopharmaceutical CMOs include Avecia Biotechnology, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cambrex Biopharmaceutical Services, Diosynth Biotechnology, DSM Biologics, Lonza Custom Manufacturing and Sandoz, according to HighTech.

More information on the report, entitled Biopharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing 2005: Improved Processes and New Capacity for Pipeline to Commercial Production​, is available from Hightech's website​.

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