60 TWENTYFOURSEVENBIOPHARMA Issue 1 / March 2025 ALEX HEELEY Managing Partner De Facto – the CDMO & CRO brand and strategy consultancy and interest rates falling obviously massively incentivises spending. So do watch out for Brian Scanlan’s next report analysis later in the year on this topic. It’s one of the few bits of research I read, then read again, and try to map a future prediction from2. I am now running out of room to update the CPHI Annual Report analysis – and we have not even touched upon the manufacturing rankings, the rise of European biotech, therapies pipeline, C>, generic, sustainability yada yada yada – but luckily for you this is the first part of a threearticle series. So to finish, my quick takeaways for those of you reading this in New York at DCAT – and for those at home – plan, plan, plan and plan some more. For early innovators, when the funding dial turns on, the market shifts quick and you can be left with that all too familiar scramble for a manufacturing partner, any partner – much better to widen your networks now. While for CDMOs, forget the macro stories – these constantly change – and focus on a capability play and be ready and able to take partners longer through development. 2025/6 are going to be years where we see CDMO capabilities reemerge as the central story, because when the gold rush starts again – those ready to service partners will grow incredibly quick. So I don’t see ‘winners’ or big losers in terms of geography, but rather, CDMOs that are ready now to provide what their customers need. You are only as good as your weakest link. To take a few examples; let’s say you are an East Asian CDMO with massive bio capacity coming online next year – are you also ready with R&D teams and do achieve excellent titers or would a client also need a CRDMO partner? Or if you run a talented chemistry CRO in the USA, can you take your clients closer to market, and can you advance them today, while also giving them a clear road map of the best and fastest chance of success (and do you have scalable technologies?). Looking even to the biggest players in India or Europe, can you offer Big Pharma true flexibility of commercial supply? For example, either hybrid approaches with API or starting material in India/ Europe and final dose in USA or the flexibility to have some bio supply in the USA. The message here is that CDMOs need to be proactive in their planning. Or even simpler than that, do you have some ‘secret sauce’ or special tech platform that transforms the way we manufacture for the better. Which is also why market consultants – particularly the CMC experts – are going to do incredibly well in the next 18-months…. And, consequently, bigger events will become even more key – although it is hard to fathom CPHI getting any bigger – and, on a personal note, hopefully the PRs and business strategists will be central to this planning also. My advice to biotech is get ahead now even if you won’t need a CDMO for two years because market sentiment always lags reality, and I promise you the tide has very much turned for the better. For example, for Q4 earnings last year, of the world’s 22 biopharma companies that had reported quarterly revenues of at least $2 billion, only one has thus far posted a yearover-year decline1. So revenues at big pharma are booming again. Therefore, the clinical development bottlenecks that now seem far away, will sneak up on the unprepared. I often think attending DCAT is about meeting partners and signing. While CPHI is also about building your assets long term supply and securing the knowledge and network to be prepared for every eventuality. Reference 1. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/ eli-lilly-novo-nordisk-lead-revenue-boomalways-tricky-fourth-quarter 2. Read it in the digital issue https://247biopharma.com/subscribe/ CPHI REPORT
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