News & Press
June 23, 2021
Global Business Reports Interview: CEO Michael Quirmbach Talks Funding & CDMO End-to-End Services
CordenPharma President & CEO Dr. Michael Quirmbach
CordenPharma was awarded the contract to supply critical lipid excipients for Moderna’s COVID vaccine formulation. What were the factors that enabled CordenPharma to move in such a fast manner to bring this product to marker?
When we were approached by Moderna we immediately understood the complexity. We put a global team together, relying on various competencies, and we used our global facility network to scale up rapidly. Initially work started in Switzerland and soon after, we involved other sites as part of our network. This has been the key to success.
How does establishing a relationship in one area with a biotech company lead to a deeper relationship over time?
When we engage as a CDMO with innovative biotech and pharma companies, it might start as a small project. As the project grows, we introduce more solutions such as technologies and different services. In general, we have a broad service offering in excipients, API and Drug Product manufacturing which allows companies multiple opportunities in working with us, depending on the needs of their project. This goes along with the trend that as companies simplify their supply chain, they look for partners who can offer end-to-end or integrated services. They look for partners who have a good skill set, and experience with broad capabilities. Having partners who can support you from early stages – grams to kilogram quantities, all the way to metric ton scale – that’s what these companies are seeking.
“Having partners who can support you from early stages – grams to kilogram quantities, all the way to metric ton scale – that’s what these companies are seeking.”
I initially thought COVID-19 was going to have a huge impact. We thought funding might go down and clinical projects would be delayed. However, a lot of funding was available, and a lot of other areas are growing. We have seen many non-pandemic-related opportunities come our way. The only negative aspect is that some clinical trials have been delayed due to COVID-19. Particularly in the US, a lot of innovation is happening, and we see very strong demand for our services, even beyond our pandemic related business. The platform technologies that have grown the fastest are Highly Potent and Oncology, Peptide, Lipids & Carbohydrates, and Injectables.
We implemented some of this already in our CordenPharma Chenôve facility near Dijon, France. The advantage of continuous manufacturing is that you can run chemistry which might otherwise require much larger capital investment and infrastructure. Continuous manufacturing can give real benefit when manufacturing certain complicated APIs with complex steps. It is also more environmentally friendly by reducing the amount of solvents used, or employing certain reagents you otherwise could not use. It does, however, require a deep analysis. You should only use it where it makes sense, but we see a big potential in this technology on the API side.
We are also discussing continuous manufacturing for Drug Product tablets. It is more complicated because it requires a customer who is willing to champion such a continuous manufacturing process. It is a bit more easily applied to intermediate non-regulated starting materials once you get the API, but Drug Product continuous manufacturing is even more complex, especially in regards to the regulatory filing.
Standard antibiotics are coming out of India and China, so the essence of discussion is, should this capability be brought back to Europe? Yes, but in the end, somebody has to pay for it. The cost of manufacturing in Europe or the US is going to be significantly more expensive, so if customers are not willing to increase the price later, and also not willing to pay more in advance, it will be a difficult discussion. We are, therefore, unsure how things will play out. On the other hand, we have customers who say, when it comes to starting materials, they prefer a Western source instead of an Asian one. CordenPharma accommodates these requests because of our inter-network relationship with our sister company WeylChem, which is focused on making raw materials and complex starting materials for GMP manufacturing. This partnership is very successful, and we are seeing an increasing interest from new and existing customers towards back-integration from a Western source for these materials.
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#CordenPharmaBoulder #CordenPharmaColorado
Celebrations included a garden party with a festive banquet of foods from Italy, Germany, France, & US, games, marshmallow roasting, custom beer steins and other 15 Year gifts, and balloons stuffed with prizes. All employees then heard a speech from Managing Director Brian McCudden and COO Dr. Lee Newton.
#CordenPharmaBergamo
Celebrations included a garden party with German-themed breakfast, lunch or dinner buffets, 15 Year custom cakes and gifts distributed to all employees, along with a speech from Managing Director Luca Porcu and VP of Platform Management & Marketing Stephen Houldsworth.
#CordenPharmaSwitzerland
Celebrations included an introduction of our core values, followed by playful games to implement them, distribution of 15 year bags, food and a live band in a garden party. Employees heard from Managing Director Dr. Juerg Burger and VP of Human Resources Stefanie Gerber.
#CordenPharmaPlankstadt
Celebrations were split into 3 groups to cover all shifts and included a festive room with a 3 course buffet meal, 15 Year custom gift bags with locally-brewed beer, and a welcome speech by Site Business Development Christina Simons and CEO Dr. Michael Quirmbach.
#CordenPharmaFrankfurt
Celebrations included a garden party with food trucks, table games, a pub quiz with team prizes, instant cameras for a photo collage, and 15 Year gifts. Guests included the CPI Global Compliance Team, Allessa GmbH, Weylchem Innotec GmbH, and Walter Krebs GmbH, with speeches by Head of Operations Dr. Karsten Meyenberg and CFO Heiko Serwe.
#CordenPharmaChenôve
Celebrations included a garden party with a “Burgundy” aperitif dinner, food trucks for lunch, a fun photo booth for taking 15 Year souvenirs, and speeches by Managing Director Yves Michon and CordenPharma Chief Quality & Compliance Officer Will Cashin.
#CordenPharmaCaponago
Celebrations continued 4 times throughout the day & night to cover all shifts, and included a multi-course German lunch or dinner with brezel, speeches by Managing Director Fabrizio Fiordigiglio and VP of Sales Dr. Mimoun Ayoub, followed by a festive garden gazebo for the 15 Year gift distribution of Prosecco and backpacks.
#CordenPharmaBrussels
Celebrations included a boat ride to Brussels City Center, followed by 3 groups taking guided bike or walking tours of secret places along the canal or the Tour & Taxis building. The party finished with a BBQ dinner and speeches from Managing Director Dr. Jean-Luc Dewez and VP General Counsel Nicolas Reischer.
Brittany Hayes joined CordenPharma as Director, Global Highly Potent & Oncology Platform in October 2021, bringing over 20 years of extensive experience in the areas of contract manufacturing (Drug Substance & Drug Product), pharmaceutical and API development, business development, contract management, and organic chemistry.
Prior to joining CordenPharma, Brittany held leadership positions at various Contract Development & Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) including Recro, Regis Technologies, DSM/Patheon/Thermo Fisher, Formex, Ricerca, and Azopharma. Most recently, Brittany was Applied Technology Director at Recro, where she was responsible for managing the proposal evaluations and development team, providing technical support to the BD team, creating training for new service offerings, and enhancing new client onboarding & knowledge transfer by liaising with business development executives, technical operations personnel, and project managers. Brittany excels at driving technical decision-making for successful pharmaceutical product development.
Brittany earned her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC) and her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Emory University (Atlanta, GA). She also was an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy. Brittany has been an active member of the American Chemical Society since 1995.