“While the COVID-19 pandemic taught new lessons about the quick and safe delivery of critical vaccines, the global shock is only now being understood.” That’s the opening observation of the 98-page 2022 Life Sciences Report, published by the AC firm CRB and based on responses from nearly 500 industry leaders, which explores this industry sector’s R&D and growth strategies.
This is CRB’s third Horizons report, and its first to include Europe, where many of the industry’s leading organizations are paving the way through innovation, groundbreaking research, and new and dynamic ways of speeding therapies to patients.
CRB is seeing a rapidly maturing industry that’s in pursuit of more diversification. “The days of single-product specialization are receding,” the report states, as companies large and small are utilizing a wide array of tools to expand their pipeline and address diverse indications.
Nearly all respondents (90%) are developing and manufacturing multiple therapy modalities in a single building, or plan to do so in the future. And more than half of the respondents plans to rely on contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) over the next three years. “We’re seeing a rise in hybrid models—that is, owners who are offering their in-house manufacturing expertise for hire,” the report states.
As such, the nature of in-demand talent is changing, as companies mature towards more automated, AI-driven manufacturing models, with the traditional C-suite expanding to include roles previously unseen in this industry, such as “Chief Data Officer.”
![Growth average targets for life Science firms](/sites/default/files/inline-images/growth%20average.png)
Cell therapies emerge as dynamic submarket
CRB divides its report into eight chapters, each with contextualized perspectives. Those chapters found that:
- Since the pandemic, companies have adopted an optimistic but more cautious approach to ongoing research and discovery. That means carefully weighing risks and rewards of capital spending and pipeline expansion while continuously pushing for new and exciting discoveries.
- Ribonucleic acid (RNA) technologies have catapulted into the spotlight because of COVID. In addition to preventing infectious diseases, these technologies—using non-coding and coding RNA—can be harnessed to treat other conditions, like cancer. When compared to other biologics, RNA technologies have the potential to increase speed to market, lower costs, and reduce regulatory requirements.
![Cell therapy development](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Cell%20therapy%20development.png)
- More than 300 of this report’s respondents have cell therapies in their pipelines, creating one of the most dynamic—and challenging—submarkets. Researchers are leveraging standardized platforms to maximize the versatility and scalability of their processes, to where decentralized manufacturing will change the future of autologous production—“a future that will see cell therapies mature from our last line of defense to an accessible and expected level of patient care,” the report predicts.
- Change is also accelerating for gene therapies. Most respondents said they plan to leap from the small-scale batches necessary for early clinical trials to much larger manufacturing volumes within just three years. Suspension cell cultures, sterile filtration, stable cell lines, and in-house plasmids manufacturing are attracting an enormous volume of R&D activity among both owners and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), as this race toward the commercial market heats up.
Modular design will facilitate expansion
![Multiple therapies in single buildings](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Multiple%20therapiess%20ingle%20bldg.png)
- Last year was a milestone year for therapeutic proteins, and not only because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the 100th antibody therapy on the market. The field of therapeutic proteins has come a long way—especially in the last few years wherein trends, technologies, and perceptions in the industry saw significant changes. Developers are strategizing for the future.
- The tailwinds from COVID-19 treatment innovation have unleashed a new era for drug product manufacturing: one that is looking beyond rare disease markets and smaller patient populations to search for the next blockbuster drug; one that is engaging with drug product formulations that are becoming increasingly more complex; and one that readily embraces automation and online/inline monitoring technologies even at the clinical production operations level.
![Targeting blockbuster products](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Product%20pipeline%20target.png)
- CRB’s experts are seeing an “encouraging evolution” in the journey to implementing all aspects of Pharma 4.0—shorthand for efficiencies through process visibility, faster decision making, and real-time system optimization—including smart end-user devices, advanced robotics, and digital twins. “We can see that in the abundance of recent acquisitions that have brought AI innovators into established life science companies,” the report states. But respondents remain sanguine about how to get there, knowing that budget constraints, organizational reluctance, and a lack of skilled labor might hold them back.
- Most respondents plan to expand over the next five years, with some indicating an intent to establish a footprint in other countries. Optimizing capital and operations expenditure in these expansion efforts means standardizing operations between sites, expediting regulatory approvals, and remaining agile to demand for new modalities and technologies. Hence, CRB concludes, a case for modular design.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Aug 7, 2023
Eight-story Vancouver Community College building dedicated to clean energy, electric vehicle education
The Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation, to be designed by Stantec, will house classrooms, labs, a library and learning center, an Indigenous gathering space, administrative offices, and multiple collaborative learning spaces.
Laboratories | Jul 10, 2023
U.S. Department of Agriculture opens nation’s first biosafety level 4 containment facility for animal disease research
Replacing a seven-decade-old animal disease center, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility includes the nation’s first facility with biosafety containment capable of housing large livestock.
Laboratories | Jun 23, 2023
A New Jersey development represents the state’s largest-ever investment in life sciences and medical education
In New Brunswick, N.J., a life sciences development that’s now underway aims to bring together academics and researchers to work, learn, and experiment under one roof. HELIX Health + Life Science Exchange is an innovation district under development on a four-acre downtown site. At $731 million, HELIX, which will be built in three phases, represents New Jersey’s largest-ever investment in life sciences and medical education, according to a press statement.
University Buildings | May 17, 2023
New UC Irvine health sciences building supports aim to become national model for integrative health
The new College of Health Sciences Building and Nursing & Health Sciences Hall at the University of California Irvine supports the institution’s goal of becoming a national model for integrative health. The new 211,660-sf facility houses nursing, medical doctorate, pharmacy, philosophy, and public health programs in a single building.
Sustainability | May 11, 2023
Let's build toward a circular economy
Eric Corey Freed, Director of Sustainability, CannonDesign, discusses the values of well-designed, regenerative buildings.
BIM and Information Technology | May 8, 2023
3 ways computational tools empower better decision-making
NBBJ explores three opportunities for the use of computational tools in urban planning projects.
Mass Timber | May 1, 2023
SOM designs mass timber climate solutions center on Governors Island, anchored by Stony Brook University
Governors Island in New York Harbor will be home to a new climate-solutions center called The New York Climate Exchange. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), The Exchange will develop and deploy solutions to the global climate crisis while also acting as a regional hub for the green economy. New York’s Stony Brook University will serve as the center’s anchor institution.
University Buildings | Apr 24, 2023
Solving complicated research questions in interdisciplinary facilities
University and life science project owners should consider the value of more collaborative building methods, close collaboration with end users, and the benefits of partners who can leverage sector-specific knowledge to their advantage.
Laboratories | Mar 9, 2023
5 laboratory design choices that accelerate scientific discovery
Stephen Blair, director of CannonDesign's Science & Technology Practice, identifies five important design strategies to make the most out of our research laboratories.
University Buildings | Feb 9, 2023
3 ways building design can elevate bold thinking and entrepreneurial cultures
Mehrdad Yazdani of CannonDesign shares how the visionary design of a University of Utah building can be applied to other building types.