Roger-Marc Nicoud, CEO of Ypso-Facto, looks at the challenges and opportunities for CDMOs in the current crisis*
The current crisis has highlighted the dependence of European and, indeed, North American countries on delocalised production. This is the case for many goods, including APIs and drugs in general.
Evonik, which is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical CDMOs, has announced the €25 million first stage of a long-term programme to expand API and advanced intermediates capacity at its sites in Dossenheim and Hanau, Germany. This should be completed by mid-2021 and the whole project should be finalised prior to 2024.
AGC has announced plans to expand its CDMO subsidiary, AGC Pharma Chemicals Europe. As well as adding 30% to the capacity of its production facilities by May 2022, this will see the addition of a new micronisation facility and a new R&D facility, which is due to begin operation in March 2021. The plant, near Barcelona, was originally known as Malgrat Pharma Chemicals.
Drug discovery firm Evotec, owner of the API manufacturer Aptuit, is a member of the Project to Accelerate New Treatments for Tuberculosis (PAN-TB) collaboration, which was launched formally on 27 February. This will aim to transform global action on TB, which causes more deaths than any other infectious disease, with 10 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths recorded in 2018.
