Stéphane Varray - commercial development - head of Launch for Mammalian and Microbial, Development & Manufacturing at Lonza discusses trends in biomanufacturing and the innovation occurring in the sector.
Biologics
The biologics market has seen explosive growth since their introduction. Drug therapies based on biologics have proven to be highly successful over the last 20 years and now account for approximately $300bn in global sales. Like any market on a high growth curve, demand and market variables are in flux and the pressure to optimise cost of goods is increasing. Manufacturing needs to keep pace with clinical supply needs and then scale up rapidly as a candidate nears approval and commercialisation. Guaranteed access to the right capacity, at the right time is key and companies need flexible solutions with an increasing need for mid-scale assets.
However, it’s more than just the right number of liters. Biologics are becoming increasingly diversified with the standard monoclonal antibody evolving into a variety of new molecular formats. An estimated 26% of the current preclinical and phase I biologics pipeline are next generation antibodies that may not fit into the current standard of bioprocessing.