Speed is of the essence - while this statement may be somewhat worn thin, it is still - and particularly true in an industry that deals with developing and producing curative if not life-saving products. Especially fields such as biopharmacy and bioprocessing - both of which are fast-paced and seemingly reinventing themselves on a regular basis - are reliant on flexible, scalable and innovative CMOs.

It is the reason why a growing number of pharmaceutical labs and manufacturers are turning to working with third-party specialists and providers such as recombinant antibody production service providers. In addition to being supplied high-quality material that has been altered to meet their respective needs, this allows them to concentrate on their core business, namely the development and production of medical drugs and personalized therapies. As a result, they can increase their output while decreasing time to market.

• Outsourcing of processes as an opportunity for the biopharma to speed up

As the number of new, elaborate products is ever-growing and unforeseeable events take place, there is an increased demand for important “ingredients” such as antibodies, so to speak. The expression of antibodies is an elaborate and time-consuming as well as resource-intensive process, and not every pharmaceutical lab or manufacturer has the capacities to produce antibodies in a large number. In order to maintain their standards and don’t cause major delays in their own production, it does, indeed, make sense to outsource this task to a service provider with specialized expertise and dedicated facilities. This also has a positive influence on the quality of the antibodies, and further, of the products and therapies developed with them.

This not only speeds up the production processes but also reduces costs because capacities do not have to be extended and production loss as well as expensive delays can be prevented. However, apart from cutting costs and speeding up production processes, there are a number of other reasons why manufacturers of antibody therapeutics are outsourcing certain process steps to contract manufacturers. Most notably, those reasons include high flexibility and variable capacity, which are both of the essence when wanting to ensure fast project execution.

Above all else, those factors allow biopharma companies to meet the growing demands of the market more efficiently and to make good use of time in the race to improve or save lives.

• Niche champions as partners to scale up

Medical and pharmaceutical labs and manufacturers that are choosing to work with third-party service providers do so for a number of reasons. A major benefit of outsourcing is the access to skilled resources, scientists who can focus on and work in their core field of expertise.

When it comes to the highly specialized field of antibody expression, evitria is an established partner that is specialized in CHO-based transient expression of recombinant antibodies (including bispecific and fusion antibodies) and other proteins. The company has recently been acquired by Atlas Antibodies, a Stockholm-based provider of highly validated reagents. Together, these niche champions enable leading research in biology, diagnostics and medicine for the purpose of understanding and improving human health.

By partnering up with external service providers, customers can rely not only on the necessary expertise but also on an established set-up without having to source either human or other resources at additional costs.

Source: Canva

About Author:

Christian Eberle is Chief Executive Officer at evitria AG and has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for over a decade. Before he went on his professional path, he studied to gain a PhD in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Since March 2020, he has established himself as an essential member of the evitria AG family.

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