|
 Home
About EEP
Our
Approach
Investment
Themes
Portfolio
The
Team
 In
The Press
  In The Press -
Current
In The
Press 2007
In The
Press 2006
In
The Press 2005
In
The Press 2004
In
The Press 2003
In
The Press 2002
In
The Press 2001
In
The Press 2000
Submitting a Business Plan
Contact us
|
Date:
11th November 2002
CMC
Biopharmaceuticals A/S and Lundbeck A/S form strategic partnership
Long-term strategic partnership agreement implies considerable
increase in CMC Biopharmaceuticals' activities.
CMC Biopharmaceuticals and Lundbeck have signed a long-term strategic
partnership agreement, according to which CMC Biopharmaceuticals is to
analyse, develop and manufacture the active ingredients used in new protein-based
drugs developed by Lundbeck.
The agreement results in a significant increase in the activities and
turnover of CMC Biopharmaceuticals. Following this agreement and other
sales contracts it has been necessary to expand the CMC's facilities at
the Symbion Science Park hereunder to establish production facilities
for clinical production of biopharmaceuticals. In August 2003 CMC Biopharmaceuticals
will move to a new state-of-the art development and production centre
in the Copenhagen area, Denmark. By then, CMC Biopharmaceuticals expects
to have about one hundred employees, the majority of whom will be senior
scientists and technicians with broad pharmaceutical industrial experience.
The agreement between CMC Biopharmaceuticals and Lundbeck reflects the
increasing specialisation that is currently taking place in the pharmaceutical
and biotechnological industries. The specialisation is a result of the
recently completed mapping of the human genome. The mapping has provided
important new knowledge about thousands of proteins, each of which plays
a role in the human organism and each of which may therefore be important
in the combating of diseases.
Extensive global research is currently taking place in the field of new
protein-based drugs. Seen in a European context, Denmark has a considerable
number of these drug candidates in the pipeline. The basic research in
and the formulation of the active ingredients of the new drugs mainly
take place in large, well-established pharmaceutical companies and in
new biotech companies.
CMC Biopharmaceuticals is specialising in process development of active
pharmaceutical ingredients - from the laboratory shake flask stage to
actual large scale production. First stage is to produce material for
the necessary clinical trials. Subsequent production will be extended
to industrial scale. The process is advanced and complex in terms of quality
and technology and calls for extensive biopharmaceutical knowledge and
know-how. Globally, these factors are scarce.
Consequently an increasing number of pharmaceutical companies are now
outsourcing this part of their development and production - which is the
areas that are CMC Biopharmaceuticals' core competencies.
Lone F¿nss Schr¿der, who is responsible for finance and business development
in the Board of Management of CMC Biopharmaceuticals, says: "Lundbeck
is an extremely professional company with extensive knowledge and competence
in their field of industry, and we are very proud of this agreement, which
we consider to be a seal of approval for the quality of CMC's services.
It will contribute significantly to paving the way for further activity
with other large pharmaceutical companies".
Anders Vinther, who is responsible for quality in the Board of Management
of CMC Biopharmaceuticals, describes the pharmaceutical market as follows:
"In the future, pharmaceutical development will not only be a question
of effective, targeted process development, but equally much a question
of being able to document the entire process flow from the choice of cell
line to timely market production at the right documentation level. If
a company fails to document activities at the right time in the development
stage it may have dire consequences in relation to the approval of a new
drug. Regulatory requirements are becoming increasingly strict, but this
is precisely the area where CMC is at the forefront of developments".
Claus Br¾strup, Executive Vice President, Research & Development at Lundbeck,
says: "I am convinced that more and more pharmaceutical companies
will adopt an outsourcing strategy similar to that chosen by Lundbeck,
the main reason obviously being that the many pharmaceutical companies
do not posses sufficient expertise such as the expertise offered by CMC
Biopharmaceuticals. I am really pleased that this expertise is available
in Denmark, since it is a major step forward in terms of placing the Danish
Medicon Valley on the pharmaceutical world map".
For further information:
CMC Biopharmaceuticals A/S, Board of Management:
Lone Fønss Schr¿der, (business development/finance), tel: +45 29488410
Anders Vinther (quality/cGMP), tel: +45 29488404
Lundbeck A/S:
Claus Brøstrup, Excecutive Vice President, Research & Development
tel: +45 36301311
Back
to Press Releases>>
|
