Massive challenges in manufacturing and distributing biologic products (gene therapies)
Presentation to PANDA Open Science
Where do gene therapies fit in with biologic products?
To help make sense of the title, biologic products are different to the traditional small molecule products, which are manufactured using industrial chemical processing. The industry and its supply chains were founded on this type of product. Nearly all that you see on the pharmacy shelf will be small molecules products, since they can be stored at room temperature and typically have a shelf-life of 2 - 5 years.
Biologic products came into their own when monoclonal antibodies, such as Avastin and Herceptin, were approved for sale. However, the supply chain challenges for biologics, given that they were shoe-horned into a supply chain infrastructure meant for small molecule products, were immense.
Read more on the challenges below:
THE BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAIN
WHAT ARE BIOLOGIC MEDICINES? There are two main types of medicines produced in the pharmaceutical industry: Small molecule - that means they are made using industrial chemistry. Aspirin is an example. The pharmaceutical industry was mainly founded on small molecule products.
Gene therapies are biologics, and consequently they suffer identical supply chain challenges.
PANDA Presentation
Yesterday, I presented the following to PANDA Open Sciences, to help them understand to full picture on the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca injections, NONE of which were developed, manufactured or distributed by those companies: Check it out below: