CPhI/ICSE — So Many Companies, So Little Time...

I have just returned from a very informative and fruitful (in terms of building relations) trip to CPhI/ICSE. I had a pretty packed timetable and although I managed to get round and see plenty of companies, I still left feeling there were so many more I might have seen had there been more time, which is of course always the way with these shows.

Our main intention was obviously to make these companies (more) aware of our new, pullout section ICMS (Ingredients and Contract Manufacturing Solutions) and, from my point of view, to get some interesting content lined up for future issues. To this end, I have most certainly succeeded, as readers will glean from the next (November/December) magazine.

My first stop was the Avantor Performance Materials (formerly Mallinkrodt Baker) stand, where I met with President Ron Harding and Global Marketing Director Herman Mitchell.

The company announced its new name — following its acquisition by an affiliate of New Mountain Capital in August — just days prior to CPhI, and was highlighting its PanExcea range of performance excipients. Ron explained: “The PanExcea range boasts exceptional flowability characteristics and porosity for bonding directly with APIs, so it’s a real breakthough.

However, Herman was keen to point out that “Avantor doesn’t just supply excipients, but also works with companies on their formulations.”

Ron added: Another key selling point for us is supply chain management; we can guarantee total, end-to-end security of a product.

Ron concluded that there were plenty of announcements in the pipeline for next year and ICMS would be at the top of Avantor’s list for receiving these.

I met Hovione’s Global Sales Director Roger Viney, who incidentally will be the interviewee for our Q&A in the next edition. Hovione — a specialist in process chemistry development, manufacture and custom synthesis of APIs — was in fact responsible for the article in our CPhI issue entitled ‘Bridging the Gap Between HAPI Production and Material Science’, which reveals how the company has adapted and what it considers are the key criteria to ensuring safe and efficient large-scale manufacturing of potent compounds (this can be downloaded from our homepage).

Impressed with how everything had gone with regards to the show thus far, Roger said: “It’s only the first day and we’ve already had a number of enquiries.”

As well as its API capabilities, the company was promoting its TwinCaps dry powder inhaler, which was granted approval for the treatment of influenza in Japan only the week prior to CPhI. “It’s another very valuable string to our bow,” added Roger.

The approval has been granted to Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd, a licensee of Hovione, for Inavir (TwinCaps) — a 20 mg dry powder inhaler that delivers the drug directly to the infected airways of influenza patients.

According to Roger, the low cost of the device means it can be disposable and is therefore ideally suited for the treatment of lung infection.

I had a very interesting conversation with Patheon’s CEO Wes Wheeler. The company’s stand was very busy, as was the man himself (so much so that I had to return at a later time). Wes stressed that although Patheon does not produce APIs, it has a real stronghold in the development, scale-up and commercial manufacture of pharmaceuticals, with a total of 15 sites — including “cutting edge sterile and lyophilisation facilities” — dedicated to this. “We are the number 2 contract manufacturer in the world,” he said. Add to this the fact that they are “the only publically trading company” and you cannot fail to be impressed. ICMS receives and often publishes quarterly fiscal results from Patheon, which according to Wes sets Patheon apart from its competition, as only publically trading companies are allowed to do this.

Wes went on to talk about a very topical subject for the contract manufacturing industry — the FDA and EMEA’s stepping up inspection and enforcements (formerly known as compliance) in coming years. He said: “Contract manufacturers will be forced to stay ahead of the game; they will have to either start investing or consolidating. I can see a lot of our competitors disappearing over the next few years, but Patheon is more than capable of weathering the storm, as we continually invest in the latest technologies to ensure that we remain at the forefront of the contract manufacturing market."

Wes has kindly agreed to write an Opinion piece on this very controversial topic for our Jan/Feb issue.

I also caught up with CARBOGEN AMCIS’ Commercial Director Rhona McIntyre, who was the Executive Q&A interviewee in our CPhI issue. CARBOGEN AMCIS — a provider of services for all stages of drug development and commercialisation — has had, according to Rhona, an exceptional year.

Rhona referred specifically to CARBOGEN AMCIS’ successful collaborations with Airjen and Next Pharma to provide pre-formulation services, but was also keen to point out that the company had, during the course of the year, introduced some of these services inhouse; one such service being pre-form polymorph solid state analysis, which offers companies an insight into powder flow characteristics etc.

“The collaborations with Airjen and Next Pharma have enabled us to provide companies with a full data package to take straight to production, however we are constantly expanding and are working towards being able to offer more of these services internally,” she said.

My final mention (and so I can finish on a somewhat lighthearted note) goes to SCM Pharma, mainly because of the amount of creativity that had gone into the sterile fill/finish company’s stand (pictured). Two members of staff, dressed as cartoon-style characters Radioactive Ray and Potent Pete, were used to draw the crowds and, according to Commercial Marketing Manager Raman Seghal, they did just that. “We’re very pleased with how the show has gone; we’re returning with a number of leads and hopefully several new projects in the pipeline,” he said. “I think this fun, cartoon super-heroes theme has played a huge part in attracting visitors to our stand.”

The stand also boasted an isolation booth containing sweets and a freezer, with ‘WARNING — Pushing Button May Release Nostalgic Frozen Freebies’ stamped across it, containing ice pops, not unlike a scene out of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

It would be impossible to mention all companies/everyone I spoke to and their news, but please visit the EPM website and have a read of the next ICMS for further updates.