Vibalogics, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that specializes in the production of virotherapy products, appointed Tom Hochuli in September 2020 as CEO to drive the company’s U.S. expansion and global growth strategy.

For the past 15 years, Vibalogics has specialized in the manufacturing of oncolytic viruses, viral vector vaccines and viral vectors offering process development, manufacturing, testing and fill-finish services for early phase clinical trials from its 50,000 square foot GMP certified facility from its home base in Cuxhaven, Germany.

Bringing over 25 years’ experience to the role, Hochuli is well-versed in driving business operations, having worked for some of the most renowned CDMOs and large pharmaceutical companies in the sector.
Previously he was head of cell and gene therapy operations for Lonza Houston.

Shortly after taking the helm at Vibalogics, the CDMO initiated Phase I of its planned $150 million investment in a late-phase clinical and commercial virotherapy manufacturing facility near Boston, MA.

The three-year investment plan includes the build out of a 110,000 square foot facility totaling $150 million across redevelopment, equipment and personnel. Vibalogics expects the site to be operational by the second half of 2021. The facility will be equipped with state-of the-art technology and enable a significant capacity increase, including 2000L scale bioreactors and additional fill-finish capabilities.

Contract Pharma recently caught up with Hochuli to discuss trends in the virotherapy space, the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolution of Vibologics as a CDMO.

Contract Pharma: You’ve recently taken the helm at Vibalogics—what has struck you most about the business so far?

Tom Hochuli: During these first few months of my time at Vibalogics, I’ve been greatly impressed by the tremendous relationships our team has cultivated with our customers.

This is a result of the strong scientific and technical knowledge in virotherapy within our business. We have demonstrated our reliability as a partner, and customers know we can provide trusted expertise and guidance to tackle any technical challenges they face to bring their life-changing virotherapies to clinic and market.

Something else that has really struck me is the incredible demand for our products and services. A part of this is due to our great reputation as a virotherapy partner, but also due to the speed with which the virotherapy market is growing, particularly the oncolytic virus, viral vector vaccine and gene therapy sectors. According to Insight Slice, the global cancer gene therapy market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 22% between now and 2030.

A growing number of pharma companies are developing oncolytic virus treatments and other viral vector therapies—to achieve success many need expert development and manufacturing support, which we are committed to provide.

Contract Pharma: Tell us a little about your career background?

Hochuli: I’m an Electrical and Computer Engineer by degree, and I started my career as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Army, serving for many years on active duty and in the Army Reserve. I began my business career at Johnson & Johnson, where I worked for more than a decade in various operational and manufacturing roles. While there, I built my expertise in medical devices, as well as Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliance.

Since then, I have deepened my expertise in a wide range of other pharmaceutical areas, including the arenas of biologics and human tissue, as well as in over-the-counter (OTC) medication.

I have also built on my experience leading pharmaceutical companies, and nurturing their success and growth. I have been a named officer at a $billion public-listed company, and led operations for the world’s largest dedicated Cell and Gene Therapy facility.

I’m looking forward to leveraging all of my leadership experience at Vibalogics. I want to cultivate the business’s strengths and transform them into true unique selling points (USPs) that help us stand out in the marketplace and add real value to customers.

Contract Pharma: What drew you to join Vibalogics?

Hochuli: Quite a few things drew me to Vibalogics. The company has a strong reputation for meeting and exceeding customer expectations. The team always delivers on its promises and that’s a rare and valuable attribute for any business.

In addition, Vibalogics has solid foundations to meet the ever-evolving needs of what is a very under-served market. It has the virotherapy infrastructure and expertise to support drug developers in bringing their innovations along the clinical journey to market. We have the backing of a private equity firm with a proven track record of supporting companies like ours to expand and adapt to new market demands.

Finally, I have a serendipitous connection to the town of Cuxhaven in Germany, where Vibalogics is headquartered. Seeing this coincidence, it was hard to say no!

Contract Pharma: How has Vibalogics evolved as a business in recent years?

Hochuli: Vibalogics has enjoyed fantastic growth in recent years, expanding our customer portfolio and expanding our technical capabilities. We are now growing our manufacturing capacity, with our redevelopment of our new facility in Boxborough, MA advancing quickly. When it is complete, we will be able to offer late-phase clinical and commercial manufacturing, as well as early-phase, allowing us to support our customers throughout the development process for their virotherapy innovations and when their product is approved for use. 

In recent years, we have become even more focused on oncolytic viruses. These show fantastic potential for revolutionizing the way we treat cancers, and it’s amazing for us to be able to play a role in developing new therapies that can transform patients’ lives for the better.

We are also looking to support a greater number of viral vector vaccine projects. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of continued vaccine innovation, not only to deliver effective protection from serious viruses, but also to deliver more cost-effective and commercially feasible solutions as well.

There have been major leaps forward in this arena over the last 12 months, and we were proud to play our role as well. We were selected by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a Johnson & Johnson company, as one of its manufacturing partners for its investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Looking ahead, it will be exciting to play our part in applying key learnings from the search for a COVID-19 vaccine to other areas of vaccine development. This is a key area of growth for the virotherapy market, and it will be crucial to evolve our infrastructure to ensure we can support customers’ growing needs in this space.

Contract Pharma: How have you had to change to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Hochuli: Many of our customers have paused other projects to prioritize COVID-19 related projects, and we have adapted our offering to support them in this goal. We’ve seen growth in the number of customers requesting viral vector vaccine support, and we have ensured we have the capacity to provide the needed development assistance.

To mitigate against the supply chain disruption experienced across the pharmaceutical industry, we were quick to implement business continuity plans to ensure we had access to necessary supplies and resources. As a result, we have been able to continue to provide the highest standards of service to our customers throughout the pandemic.

Contract Pharma: How do you see the virotherapy space evolving over the next five years?

Hochuli: As I mentioned earlier, the virotherapy market is set to experience incredible growth year-on-year until 2030 at least.

To support this expansion, virotherapy specialists like Vibalogics will have to ensure they have the expertise and infrastructure in place to expand their offering and capacity in line with their customers’ needs.
A key part of this will be the evolution of more standardized processes, and fixed product platforms. These will be vital to free up capacity at existing facilities, helping to improve their output and productivity, while ensuring product quality and effectiveness.

Such innovations will also help minimize production costs, helping to maximize return on investment for virotherapy developers. As a result, they will make the virotherapy space even more attractive as an area of investment, helping the sector to mature and achieve its potential as the future of healthcare.

Contract Pharma: What are your goals for Vibalogics over the next 12 months and beyond?

Hochuli: I have two key goals for Vibalogics over the next year. The first is to complete the expansion of our German facility and have it ready to serve our customers and provide them with incredible support.

The second is to complete and launch our new U.S. facility in Boxborough, MA. This expansion is crucial to our vision of comprehensive development and manufacturing support—once it is fully operational, we will have the capacity and infrastructure to provide both early- and late-phase clinical and commercial development and manufacturing to customers.

This will mean we can support our customers in streamlining their complex supply chains, helping to lower development costs and reduce time-to-market for their innovations.

Contract Pharma: How can virotherapy development projects benefit from companies like Vibalogics?

Hochuli: We are here to provide trusted expertise to any virotherapy drug developer. We provide the specialist capabilities, the bricks-and-mortar infrastructure and capacity, as well as the technical expertise to support virotherapy drug developers in developing and scaling their discovery for commercialization.

With the support of companies like Vibalogics, they can successfully overcome any challenges they face to bring their virotherapy innovation to market, ultimately benefiting patients by providing them with new more effective treatments.