SETTING COURSE FOR PROSPERITY

Arising tide may lift all boats, but in the case of biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing, the tide is rising so fast that the boats are scattering in several directions. For companies engaged in biopharmaceutical production, the tide is the huge number of new products coming through the drug development pipeline. According to a survey conducted last year by Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, 350 biotechnology-based drugs are in some phase of clinical testing. Of course, not all of these products will make it through the development pipeline to commercialization; but even if just a fraction do, the number of biotech drugs on the U.S. market—54 as of 1998—is sure to more than double in the next several years. This prospect has companies engaged in the contract manufacture of biopharmaceuticals—a global business estimated to be worth anywhere from $350 million to $450 million per year—rubbing their hands in anticipation. They know that many of ...