Outsourcing
Outsource and intake
For decades, pharmaceutical companies have relied on contract development and manufacturing companies (CDMOs) to develop drugs. But though these third-party contractors proved their
worth in the fight against Covid, dramatically expanding global vaccine manufacturing capacity, an unintended consequence has been that the supply of other medicines has suffered. Andrea Valentino talks to Joe Glajch, an industry veteran and consultant, and Emily Thompson, US director for new process technology at DPS Group to understand the historical importance of CDMOs, why the pandemic has put their role under scrutiny – and whether recent experiences could result in a more fundamental shift in how drugs are manufactured.
harmaceuticals was once a lonely business – at least when it came to outside help. Vast hordes of researchers and clinicians teamed up to develop new drugs, of course, but relationships tended to stop at the factory gates. No matter how ground-breaking the drug, firms rarely outsourced manufacturing or testing functions to external contractors. If nothing else, this is reflected in the stories of some of humanity’s most famous medications. In 1989, for instance, scientists at Pfizer synthesised sildenafil, more commonly known as Viagra. Even today, most of the drug’s active ingredient is created at a mammoth Pfizer facility in Ireland. Yet much has changed over the last three decades, with pharma giants the world over ever more reliant on contract development and manufacturing companies (CDMOs). By one conservative estimate, the global CDMO industry has grown more than five- fold since the 1980s, reaching $100bn in 2020. Nor is this expansion especially surprising. Offering higher speeds at lower prices, CDMOs make sense in a world where bringing new drugs to market typically costs
P 48
$1.3bn, and one where generic competition can cut retail prices by as much as 79%.
These partnerships have been strained over the past few years; as Pfizer and other pharmaceutical giants had to seek extra manufacturing capacity to meet worldwide vaccination demand, the supply of other important drugs has been increasingly squeezed. Combined with supply chain issues, and the vagaries of geopolitics, some pharmaceutical firms are looking inward once more, boosting their own manufacturing capabilities in an unstable world. What that means for the traditional CDMO model remains unclear – but change is undoubtedly on the horizon.
Supply strain If anyone understands how CDMOs have shaped pharmaceuticals over the past four decades, it’s Joe Glajch. He began his career back in 1978, initially working at DuPont before moving to Bristol-Myers Squibb. From there, Glajch has dipped his toes everywhere from analytical development to non-
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