1. Clariant unveiled three new VitiPure excipients at CPhI Barcelona, designed to accommodate a wide range of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) formulations and administration routes. These excipients are particularly valuable for sensitive medications like mRNA vaccines and biologic drugs.
Source: www.pharmacompass.com

2. Flawless Pharma signs API deals with European CDMO and African companies for $120 million. Flawless Pharma has made a significant announcement, revealing agreements with a European Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and an African company to export and provide the active ingredient in anti-cancer and anti-viral medications. These arrangements also include technology transfer agreements.
Source: www.pharmacompass.com

3. Published on Pharmatech.com on October 25, 2023, the featured article provides a comprehensive overview of the findings from the CPHI Annual Report. This report, unveiled during the CPHI Barcelona event on October 24, 2023, underscores a noteworthy surge in biotech funding and the consequent expansion of the pharma contract services sector. The report also underlines that this year's CPHI Barcelona event hosted the largest gathering of contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) on record.

Brian Scanlan, a renowned expert from Edgewater Capital, presented the report's analysis, specialising in CPHI reports. Scanlan's analysis highlights the crucial role of liquidity in the biotech and mid-sized pharma market as a reliable indicator of growth in the contract research organisation (CRO) and CDMO sector. Notably, funding in this sector has exhibited a stabilisation pattern over the past two quarters, resembling levels last observed just before the onset of the pandemic. It is worth noting that the total funding for 2023 has been trending higher than that of 2022, except for initial public offerings (IPOs), which continue to display weakness.

The article delves into the recent history, where the confluence of market saturation and dwindling funding led to CDMOs experiencing a deceleration in their development pipelines. However, Scanlan's analysis is cautiously optimistic about the market's trajectory. He points to improvement in the venture capital (VC) funding landscape. Still, he emphasises that a sustained upswing must be accompanied by an increase in pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and a healthier environment for initial public offerings. While softer demand, particularly from emerging pharmaceutical companies and earlier development phases, might persist for 12 to 18 months, the investment banking sector indicates a resurgence in deal activity, expected to gain momentum from late 2023 and carry on into 2024.

The article also discusses the changing landscape of onshoring and the forces at play. While the initial factors driving the surge in supply chain realignment, such as the impact of COVID-19, geopolitical tensions, and risk mitigation, have diminished to some extent, they have been partly offset by decreasing geopolitical tensions, fewer supply chain disruptions, and a renewed emphasis on cash management, prompted by ongoing funding challenges.

Scanlan underscores a significant and positive factor for CDMOs: the reduction of the workforce in the pharmaceutical industry throughout 2022 and the early part of 2023. This reduction is predicted to stimulate demand for CRO and CDMO services in 2024. The article concludes on an optimistic note, highlighting that the long-term prospects for CRO and CDMO entities appear promising, especially given numerous compounds in various stages of development and market dynamics favouring an increase in outsourced penetration rates.