19TECH OUTLOOKDecember 2017The global biopharmaceuticals market is expected to reach $278 billion in 2020, a rapid annual growth rate of 9.6 percent. Contract research organizations (CROs) play an essential role in helping today's biopharmaceutical industry develop innovative solutions across multiple sub-segments. The ability of CROs to help biopharmaceutical companies solve complex challenges is growing--it is estimated that half of the research in large pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies is done outside.It is common for CROs to specialize in specific areas like generating clones or monoclonal antibodies. For many CROs, this is a successful model which enables them to maximize the effectiveness of their research programs and resources.However, there remain broader challenges in the biopharmaceutical industry. These include achieving the efficient production of therapeutic proteins and discovering new approaches for maximum protein expression; developing economical, flexible, and robust manufacturing processes; requirements of refolding proteins into their active state; and improving formulations for better dosage, stability, and injectability. Additionally, appropriately defined cell culture conditions are required to achieve maximum protein expression.Often, biopharmaceutical companies may not have the time, resources, or process expertise to really "break the back" of these kinds of challenges. Typically, when a process is developed for drug development, whether making a new biologic or a protein target for screening of a company's chemical library, the owner never really has the time to fully go through and develop "the optimal process." They usually find something that approximately achieves a targeted goal, in order to meet deadlines and move the program forward as quickly as possible since time to approval and commercialization is critical for patients and also companies.The Future CROIncreasingly, customers are looking for CROs with a broader range of capabilities. The new CRO model will have the resources and world-class staff of scientists to investigate and solve both upstream and downstream challenges--from gene to protein to final formulation. In fact, there are opportunities to make significant drug treatment and biopharmaceutical process breakthroughs by investigating materials-related life sciences challenges. Life sciences companies on the cutting edge are increasingly interested in partnering with research CXO INSIGHTSA View on the Contract Research Organization of the FutureBy Ashish Kulkarni, EVP and Chief Technology Officer, AvantorFinding ways to reduce the number of steps in the process, to work across multiple disciplines, to think entrepreneurially, and to respond with agility, those are the unique strengths that the CRO model of the future will possessAshish Kulkarni
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