CPhI Annual Report Reveals that COVID-19 is Benefitting CDMOs

Analysis from the CPhI Annual Report has revealed that the global contract services sector is benefitting from a switch toward COVID-19 manufacturing and clinical-stage contracts; however, mega-cap pharma innovation is slowing outsourcing.

In a Nov. 9, 2020 press release, report outcomes were highlighted, specifically the analysis from Adam Bradbury, analyst, and Fiona Barry, associate editor, both at PharmSource GlobalData, which looked at the trends, challenges, and opportunities in global contract manufacturing. Bradbury emphasized that in 2019, a high percentage of new drug approvals (NDA) that were achieved by mega-cap companies, which has the potential to negatively impact contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) in the near future. This effect may be attributed to the reduced need for outsourced manufacturing capabilities as mega-cap pharma companies have more in-house capabilities.

However, increased opportunities in outsourcing of niche technologies was pinpointed by Bradbury in the report. “There are a large number of cell and gene therapies in development, which will form a future wave of marketed therapies requiring larger scale manufacturing,” Bradbury said in the press release. “We may therefore see manufacturing bottlenecks in the future, especially in viral vector manufacturing and slow processing, and as such there will be a significant demand for related services.”

Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) are reaping the benefits of increased outsourcing agreements being signed to provide billions of COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to Barry in her analysis. CDMOs located close to vaccine developers’ domestic nations are proving to be more popular, Barry identified.

Even though the larger proportion of COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA ones, Barry specified that the majority of contracts were being signed for recombinant vector vaccines, followed by subunit vaccines.“There are extremely few mRNA outsourcing agreements relative to the number of mRNA candidates because of the novelty of this unproven technology. Few CMOs have the capability to produce APIs for mRNA vaccines, and many COVID-19 mRNA dose manufacturing sponsors are opting to partner with big pharma rather than outsource this work to CMOs,” Barry added in the press release.

Further information and analysis can be found in the CPhI Annual Report, which is available from CPhI Online.

Source: CPhI Online​