No Surprise, Demand for Biopharma Production Capacity to Rise

Dec. 16, 2014

By 2016 R&D spending by biopharmaceutical companies is estimated to reach $145 billion. According to a recent industry report from Kalorama Information, the biopharmaceutical and vaccine production market is estimated to reach $41 billion in 2014. The healthcare market research publisher says that existing firms are near capacity with the amount of biologic drugs in development. In its report “Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Production Markets,” Kalorama reveals, perhaps to no-one’s surprise, that it’s simply the sheer number of biologic products in the pipeline that’s driving the rising demand for biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.

"It is estimated there are more than 400 biotech drug products and vaccines targeting hundreds of the diseases in the pipeline," says Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "Over the next several years, as the number of biologics produced increases, the demand for biologic manufacturing capacity will continue to increase."

Since 2000, says the report, demand for biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing services grew, primarily due to several underlying factors, including the growth of the biopharmaceutical drug market, the increase in the number of biopharmaceutical development projects and the increasing use of contract manufacturing organizations by the pharmaceutical industry to make their drugs.

Demand continues to rise for biopharmaceutical production using mammalian cell culture and microbial fermentation processes. Capacity utilization for integrated biopharmaceutical manufacturers and large contract manufacturing organizations (CMO) are presently estimated at 81 percent for microbial fermentation and 71 percent for mammalian cell culture. This is a change, says the report, that the economic downturn and lower approvals rates for new molecular entities dampened the demand for biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing services earlier this decade.