Bio capacity in Europe is predicted to overtake the USA by 2020 according to the findings of a CPhI Annual Report released at bioLIVE in Madrid.

The report’s analysis is from CPhI Annual Report, Dawn Ecker – Consultant and bioTRAK Database Manager with BPTC (BioProcess Technology Consultants) – in which she looks collectively at the overall growth in demand and capacity for biologicals over the next  five years. Europe’s capacity is shown to be growing the fastest and will overtake the USA by 2020 – rising from around 1100L to nearly 2200L within the next  five years.

Globally both demand and supply are predicted to rise quickly, with demand slightly outpacing capacity expansions. This is forecast to result in an easing of capacity constraints in the short-term, but in the long-term, smaller companies may have difficultly accessing the capacity they need as products progress through the clinical pipeline – even in 2020 the majority of supply will remain at branded facilities (rising to 35% from 30% in 2017). 

“In 2017, the annual volumetric requirements were just over 2,300 kL, while in 2022, the volumetric requirement is projected to be just over 4,300 kL, a 5-year growth rate of nearly 14%. However, mammalian cell culture supply is around 3,700 kL and it will grow to approximately 5,600 kL by 2022, a five-year growth rate of around 8%,” said Ecker.

In terms of areas of potential variance in overall capacity, Ecker identifies a continued focus on orphan drugs leading to lower overall capacity, or slightly higher should Alzheimer’s drugs and PDL/PDL-1 checkpoints in cancer get approved – shifting demand much higher and potentially leading to capacity shortages. 

Ecker continued, “In recent years, we have noted that the industry was experiencing some capacity constraints at the clinical scales due to very high clinical demand and the industry has responded in kind with a wave of facility expansions not seen in the recent past. The type and scale of capacity being installed will also be important as the demand for nearly half of products in mid-to-late stage development can be met with 5,000L of capacity or less; while the remaining half of products will need larger capacity to meet future demand. With new bioreactor installations mimicking the demand profile, we are keenly watching how the industry is responding to these demands for capacity as it is critically important to ensure current and future products are available to the patients.”

The full findings of the CPhI Annual Report were released at CPhI Worldwide.