CPHI Milan 2024: Pharma Industry Growth and Investment

Pharmaceutical Technology® Europe spoke with John McQuaid, president and managing director at Almac Pharma Services, at CPHI Milan 2024, held October 8–10, in Milan, Italy, about how the pharmaceutical industry is growing and what might drive investment in the future. McQuaid also discusses the demand for analytical services and the challenges to provide those services that contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) face.

“There's quite a diverse range of drivers at the moment, anything from the BIOSECURE Act in the [United States], geopolitical factors such as that, right through to technology needs for emerging modalities,” McQuaid said. “If I speak about pharmaceutical development, first, there's never been a larger number of molecules in clinical development, and we're certainly seeing that increasing demand. We've got demand in areas such as [highly] potent [APIs], [and] age-appropriate formulations, such as pediatrics. We've got poorly soluble compounds, and the need for technologies to address that. And then we've got personalized medicines, such as, … cell and gene therapies, which drive particular needs in areas such as fill/finish and cold chain requirements.”

Commercially, McQuaid sees the rise of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs as driving demand and supply chain concerns. Auto injectors are also in demand as device combinations are common, and therefore, a growing area of the market. “And then the feedback we're also getting from many of our clients is that small molecules and small-molecule pipelines are particularly strong and healthy at the moment, and that's driving demand as well.”

Almac is addressing some of these areas by investing in technologies such as mini tablets for pediatrics and spray drying for poorly soluble compounds. “We're investing in cold chain capabilities, both for the clinical phases and the commercial phases, and then we have peptide synthesis coming online early next year at our API plant in Craigavon, with small molecule expansion kicking in later next year, and then further program for larger-scale API manufacturing.”

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