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CEO Spotlight: Thierry Van Nieuwenhove

Quotient Sciences' chief executive talks about how the CDMO is positioning itself to stay ahead of the curve.

Quotient Sciences is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in integrated drug development and manufacturing services. Its unique Translational Pharmaceutics platform is designed to streamline formulation development, clinical testing, and commercial manufacturing, to help accelerate timelines and reduce costs. With expertise spanning small molecules to biologics, Quotient Sciences delivers tailored solutions across all phases of drug development.

At the helm of this CDMO is Thierry Van Nieuwenhove, a visionary leader driving growth and transformation and who joined Quotient Sciences as chief executive in October 2023. In this exclusive Q&A, we sit down with Mr. Van Nieuwenhove to explore his insights on emerging trends in the CDMO industry, the future of drug development, and how Quotient Sciences is positioning itself to stay ahead in this ever-evolving market.

Contract Pharma: What are the most significant trends you are currently observing in the CDMO industry?

Thierry Van Nieuwenhove: After several months of tailwinds across the industry linked to post COVID-19 slowdown and biotech financing challenges, we are happy to see that the market is showing signs of recovery in the first half of 2024. This, along with the innovation that remains very strong with lots of new molecules being created for treating unmet medical needs, is full of hope for the whole industry.

Additionally, the success of GLP-1s has created a real solution for patients and a high demand in the CRO/CDMO industry for those involved. As research continues, we are seeing that GLP-1s can offer benefits for patients that extend beyond blood sugar control and weight loss. For many years, Quotient Sciences has contributed to the advancements of oral peptides, and this has included GLP-1 therapies. We know that most approved peptide-based medicines are administered via injection and that remains a drawback for some patients. Innovations in peptide chemistry and drug delivery are enabling more peptides to be optimized for oral administration, making it easier for patients to start and continue their treatment. 

CP: What are some business highlights from the past 12-24 months?

Thierry: One highlight has been our partnership with Charles River Laboratories, which leverages the expertise of both companies to support customers from discovery through clinical development. We know that bridging drug discovery into pre-clinical and clinical development has many challenges, one of which is navigating multiple service providers. This project management coordination placed on the sponsor creates gaps in the development timeline and limits knowledge and material sharing. Combining Charles River and Quotient Sciences’ capabilities in a single program of work gives customers the opportunity to gain deep scientific expertise and a bespoke service that is tailored to their development program.

CP: How is Quotient Sciences integrating new technologies and innovations in its processes?

Thierry: Science is a core part of who we are. In fact, it is right there in our name. When our clients work with us, they are accessing a whole team that have, across decades, developed thousands of drug products. For every single project, we bring a collaborative group of our experts together to optimize drug product formulation development and manufacturing, PBPK modelling, clinical study design, and other disciplines to make data-informed decisions with our customers, even in the most difficult situations. I’m fully engaged in making sure Quotient Sciences continues to keep science and innovation at center of attention. This has made the company unique in the market for more than three decades.

CP: Can you share your strategic vision for Quotient Sciences’ growth in the coming years?

Thierry: Expanding our Translational Pharmaceutics platform in the U.S. remains a key objective. Translational Pharmaceutics transforms the traditional model of outsourcing, where a combination of CDMOs and CROs are usually required, with handovers at different points over the course of a drug program. Instead, Translational Pharmaceutics integrates formulation development, on-demand and adaptive GMP manufacturing, healthy volunteer clinical testing and data analysis, all within a single organization and program of work.

We have consistently heard that no other business in our industry can demonstrate an approach quite like Translational Pharmaceutics. Applying this ground-breaking approach under US regulations allows us to complement capabilities already offered from our Nottingham, UK facility and gives U.S.-based clients greater flexibility to either work locally with the FDA or with the MHRA in the UK to realize the benefits it delivers for their program.

CP: Building strong client relationships is crucial in the CDMO industry. How does Quotient Sciences differentiate itself in providing value to its clients?

Thierry: The last two years, coming out of COVID-19, have proven to be difficult for the entire industry. CDMOs such as Quotient Sciences continued to thrive by providing innovative solutions, a deep understanding of science, and strategic partnership to clients. Our approach to project management and integrated activities across scientific functions remains a cornerstone of our work with clients.

A recent example of this was how we applied the Translational Pharmaceutics platform to our collaboration with customers such as YourChoice Therapeutics, a pioneer of hormone-free family planning products, and Ensysce Biosciences.

Having established a scale-up ready synthetic route for the YCT-529 API at our Alnwick, UK facility, the Quotient Sciences team developed the initial product formulation and the First-in-Human (FIH) clinical protocol in parallel. Once approved, this allowed our Nottingham, UK facility to perform on-demand drug product manufacturing for precision dose escalation, removing extensive and costly up front product manufacturing. We are excited to see the potential of this first hormone-free male birth control pill as it progresses to patient trials, and we are ready to support YourChoice with additional product optimization as needed. The YourChoice team also complemented our relationships with UK regulatory bodies, which helped navigate and overcome regulatory hurdles to bring YCT-529 to clinical testing sooner.  

CP: Looking ahead, what are the key priorities and goals for Quotient Sciences over the next five years?

Thierry: Quotient Sciences’ core services for contract research and development are very strong. We are a leading provider of UK Phase 1 clinical studies with healthy volunteers. This is achieved, in part, thanks to our Translational Pharmaceutics platform but also due to the expertise that we have in our Phase 1 clinics. Translational Pharmaceutics continues to be a growth driver for us within the U.S. but potentially also other regions. In the future, we intend to push the boundaries of Translational Pharmaceutics to areas where it can make a transformative change. We are evaluating opportunities in new geographies and new modalities to extend the reach and impact we’re able to deliver.

Additionally, we intend to explore new applications of AI within our business. Given the unique position that we have that spans chemistry, pharmaceutical and clinical capabilities, we believe Generative AI has the potential to deliver truly transformational impact for customers. Linking our history of drug development, including over 500 Translational Pharmaceutics completed over 16 years, we can see the progression of a molecule to a formulation to the clinical result from healthy volunteer trials and use those learnings for the benefit of optimized formulations for our customers’ programs. 

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