Piramal Introduces ‘Proof of Concept’ Service for ADC Growth

Piramal’s Pharma Solutions division has introduced a new ‘Proof of Concept’ service designed to bring the most promising ADC targets into clinical development more quickly. The company has recently made investments at its site in Grangemouth UK, and acquired Coldstream, a specialized ADC fill/finish site in Kentucky, as part of an effort to become a market leader in ADCs contract commercialization during the next five years.
 
Piramal sees the market for commercial ADCs accelerating in the next few years and a steady increase in number of potential drug targets entering trials. Piramal expects about eight drugs to move into its commercial production by 2020. Currently, the company only manufactures one commercial product. According to the company, despite the increase in development targets for ADCs, the global contract manufacturing sector still remains significantly under resourced with only a handful of players with experience and even less with the required regulatory accreditations.
 
There are currently two commercialized ADCs on the market. Vivek Sharma, chief executive officer of Pharma Solutions, Piramal Enterprises, commented: “The situation with ADCs mirrors what happened when Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) first started to commercialize. At present, very few CMOs have the facilities or, just as crucially, the experience to develop them. At the moment there are only two CMOs, including ourselves, which are leading the charge in the commercial manufacturing of ADCs. Piramal is targeting winning at least one in every two commercial contracts coming to market over the next few years.” 
 
Research on ADC targets shows that there will be at least a further 50 entering clinical development by 2020 and during the next few years it is likely there will be a wave of consolidations within the CDMO sector to acquire technology. Vivek Sharma added, “We have been in the ADC market for over 10 years, and it is an expertise we have built both organically and inorganically. We see the next 5 years as an exciting time for the ADC market and possibly have a sizeable contribution in the total Biological CMO market.”