Biotherapeutics to propel contract manufacturing in India and China : Report

CMOs market to touch $33.7bn by 2014 from the current $22.2bn

Biologics drugs will push contract manufacturing business to grow at a much faster pace in the coming years, according to a new report by Business Monitor International (BMI).

The market for contract manufacturing organisations (CMO) will grow to $33.7bn (€22.4bn) by 2014 from the current $22.2bn figures.

However, developing capabilities to produce biotherapeutics will be key for contract manufacturing orrganizations to capture the market. Because biologics are predicted to be the fastest growing sector of the CMO market.

Biologics are increasingly becoming the mainstay of all leading companies. Follow-on biologics (FOB) market is predicted grow many times over in the coming years.

Big pharma is seeking to reduce fixed costs associated with large manufacturing facilities. CMOs stand to gain majorly from this trend.

Unlike chemical drugs, biologics manufacturing has significantly higher entry barriers. Also, manufacturing biologics requires more investment in infrastructure and is more complex.

At present, CMOs with biologics capabilities are relatively few.  The majority of the current biomanufacturing capacity is in North America.

However, this could change as Asia and other outsourcing regions grow faster.

Asian CMO’s share of global facilities predicted to increase from 10 per cent in 2009 to 20 per cent by 2013.

However, the report also states that “most Asian CMOs still fail to demonstrate the rigor of regulatory compliance that Western companies demand and their customers expect”.

Regulations in India and China needs to improve for the expected growth. India and China must implement stronger actions to control domestic supplies of raw materials and collaborate closely with foreign regulatory bodies.

Improving regulations, controlling raw material supplies and collaboration with foreign regulatory bodies India and china can ensure they comply with Western manufacturing standards, which could be particularly important for the more complex process of producing biologics, report said.