8JULY - 2023IN MY OPINIONThe last years during which pharmaceutical technology has served the bio and pharmaceutical industry have been years of momentous growth and change in the way drugs are discovered, developed, manufactured, and sold. Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) have long played a part in the industry's growth, but it is only in the past 20 years that they have become a critical element in bio and pharmaceutical company operations. EVOLUTION OF THE CONTRACT DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN THE LAST YEARSBy Max Brescia, Senior Global Director, Contract Manufacturing, AbbVie Early StagePhase one of the CDMO industry includes the years before the `90s. In those years, there were three primary participants in the CDMO industry: global bio and pharma companies that provided manufacturing services to each other; fine chemical companies providing intermediates; and a small number of dedicated service providers offering specialized capabilities.The concept of outsourcing was coined at the beginning of the early blockbuster era of pharmaceuticals, at a time when volume demands outstripped pharmaceutical companies' internal resources and capacity. After the end of the first wave of blockbusters, Big Pharma companies came under increasing pressure to reduce their costs. At the same time, the industry shifted from custom synthesis to toll manufacturing, and using a CMO for its skill or know-how in a specialist technology or developing a process was no longer required. Modern AgeThe modern CDMO industry emerged in the late 1990s and three main factors contributed to the industry's launch during that period. The first was the shedding of excess capacity by global bio and pharmaceutical companies as older products went off-patent. A second factor was the explosion of early-stage bio and pharma companies, thanks to the maturity of biotechnology and the availability of external funding. Max Brescia
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